Jenn Herman

Cheat Sheet / Updated 11-17-2022

Before you start using Instagram, you may want to learn the lingo that Instagrammers use. Instagram doesn’t like accounts that act spammy or over-engage in certain behaviors, so you need to become familiar with a number of restrictions. When you follow other Instagram profiles, you can share posts, videos, and even entire profiles in a direct message to another Instagram user.

Article / Updated 11-14-2022

Listen to the article:Download audio If you're new to Instagram, you may be wondering where to start. Instagram (and its daddy, Facebook) is happy to help you make connections. You can find people in a few different ways. Finding your Facebook friends Facebook has a vested interest in making Instagram grow, so it tries to encourage you to round up your Facebook friends and bring them over to Instagram. It’s an easy way for you to find people. To find friends on Facebook, follow these steps: Go to your Instagram profile page by tapping your photo at the bottom right of your phone’s screen. Tap the person with a plus (and possibly a red number) at the top left. Tap the Facebook link at the top of your screen. Confirm your Facebook login by tapping OK.The screen displays how many Facebook friends you have on Instagram. Tap either Follow All or Follow.To follow every one of your Facebook friends on Instagram, tap Follow All. If you’d rather be more selective, especially because you'll likely be promoting your product or service, you may want to follow friends one by one. Simply tap Follow next to each friend you’d like to connect with, and keep scrolling and following! Some of your friends may have set their accounts to private. In this case, you see Requested after you tap Follow. They need to approve you before you can view their profile and posts. Syncing your contact list Instagram can also connect you with the contacts stored on your phone or tablet. After you activate this feature, your contacts are periodically synced with Instagram’s servers. Instagram does not follow anyone on your behalf, and you can disconnect your contacts at any time so that Instagram cannot access them. This feature may be best as a one-and-done in the beginning versus a constant connection for privacy purposes. To connect your contacts, follow these steps: Go to your Instagram profile page by tapping your photo at the bottom right of your phone’s screen. Tap the small person with a plus (and possibly a red number) at the top left. Tap the Contacts link.The next screen tells you that Instagram will find people you know, and you're given the option to follow them. To proceed, tap Connect Contacts.Another pop-up asks whether Instagram can access your contacts. Tap Allow Access. A pop-up appears asking you to allow Instagram access to your Contacts. This is your last chance to cancel your decision to allow Instagram to access your contacts. Tap OK.The pop-up goes away, and the Contacts screen appears. Follow all your contacts on Instagram by tapping Follow All, or choose which contacts to follow by tapping Follow next to each one. If you change your mind at some point and want to disallow Instagram’s access to your contacts, tap the wheel icon on your profile page, scroll down to Settings, and then tap Contacts. Tap the Connect Contacts toggle to return it to white, which terminates Instagram’s access.

Article / Updated 09-30-2022

Instagram has a ton of filters to help improve your photos. Start by taking a shot for an Instagram post. The photo you take appears in the Instagram viewer of the Filter screen. The screen contains the following four sections, from top to bottom: The top menu bar, with a < (back) icon on the left, the Lux icon in the center, and the Next link on the right The viewer, which displays your photo A row of filter thumbnail images so you can see what your photo will look like with a filter applied The bottom menu bar, with a Filter menu option (selected by default) and the Edit option Not interested in editing your photo in Instagram? Simply tap the back icon in the upper-left corner to save your photo. Instagram saves your photo automatically and displays the camera screen so you can take a new photo if you want. Applying an Instagram filter Below your Instagram photo in the viewer is a row of filters. Each filter includes a thumbnail image so you can see the filter’s effect on your photo. Swipe from right to left in the row of thumbnail images to view all 23 of Instagram’s filters, from Clarendon to Nashville. (Normal is the default image, without a filter.) Tap a filter thumbnail image, and the photo in the viewer changes to show you the photo with that filter applied. To return to the original photo, tap the Normal thumbnail. To continue processing the photo with a filter, either tap Edit at the lower-right corner of the screen to edit your photo further, or tap Next in the upper-right corner of the screen to add a description to your photo. What happens when a filter is not quite to your liking and you’d like to tweak it? You can change the intensity of any Instagram filter (except Normal) by tapping the filter thumbnail image again. A slider appears; move it to the left and right to change the intensity. The photo in the viewer changes to reflect the selected intensity. The default intensity for each filter is 100. In iOS, a white box appears to the right of the slider. Tap this box to add a white frame around the photo. If you don’t like having the white frame, tap the box again. When you’ve set the intensity to just the right amount, tap Done (iOS) or the check mark (Android). If you’re still not satisfied and want to return the photo to its original intensity, tap Cancel (iOS) or the X (Android). Keep in mind that any Instagram filter settings will revert to the default after you leave this screen. If you want to see how the photo with a filter compares to the original photo, tap and hold down on the viewer to view the original photo. Release your finger to see the photo with the applied Instagram filter. Managing Instagram filters Are there too many filters or are your favorite ones are too far down in the list? No problem. Swipe to the end of Instagram’s filter list, and you’ll see a Manage icon. Tap the icon to open the Manage Filters screen where you can perform three tasks: Change the order of filters in the row, add filters, and disable filters. The filters on the Manage Filters screen appear in the same order as they do in the Filter screen. You can change the order of Instagram’s filters as follows: Tap and hold down on a filter name in the list.The filter name gets larger after you hold down on the name for about a second. Move the name in the list.As you move the filter name, other filter names helpfully move out of the way so you can see where your selected filter will appear in the list. When the filter is where you want it, release your finger.The filter name appears in your desired location in the list. That’s all there is to it! To return to the Filter screen, tap Done (iOS) or the check mark in the upper right (Android). When you swipe up and down in the list of filters on the Manage Filters screen, you may see several names that don’t have check marks to the right of the filter name. These filters are disabled, but it’s easy to add any of them to the Filter screen: Simply tap a filter name that doesn’t have a check mark to the right of the name. A check mark is added, which means the filter is active. Tap Done, and you return to the Filter screen, where you see your new filter in the row of filters. If you decide that you don’t want to include one or more filters in the Filter screen, you can disable it by tapping the filter name in the list on the Manage Filters screen. The check mark to the right of the name disappears. (To add it back, just tap the disabled filter name again.) When you’re finished, tap Done (iOS) or the check mark in the upper right (Android). Tweaking your Instagram photos with the editing tools When you’ve finished experimenting with filters, view Instagram’s editing tools by tapping Edit (iOS) or Edit/Filter (Android) at the bottom of the screen. (Some Android users may see a wrench icon instead.) A row of editing tools appears below Instagram’s viewer. Swipe from right to left in the row of editing tools to see all 13 tools. Tap a tool to open it below the viewer. What you see below the viewer depends on the tool you tapped. For example, when you tap the Brightness tool, a slider appears so you can increase or decrease the photo’s brightness. No matter what tool you use, the photo in the viewer reflects the changes you make and a gray dot appears below the tool icon. Here’s what you can do with each of Instagram’s editing tools: Adjust: You can adjust your photo in several ways by using the Adjust tool. Instagram automatically adjusts your photo to center it before you make any adjustments. A row of three icons and an associated slider bar appear below the photo so you can make the following changes: Change the vertical or horizontal perspective of the photo by tapping the left or right icon, respectively, below the photo. After you tap the icon, it’s highlighted in black. The slider bar is a series of vertical lines. Swipe left and right in the slider bar to see the change reflected in the photo. As you slide, the highlighted icon above the slider bar is replaced with a box that shows you the change amount measured in degrees. If the object in your photo appears tilted, tap the straighten icon in the middle of the icon row. Then swipe left and right in the slider bar to tilt the photo so that the object appears straight. As you swipe in the slider bar, a box appears in place of the straighten icon and shows you the number of degrees you’re tilting the photo. Rotate the photo 90 degrees counterclockwise by tapping the rotate icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Keep tapping the rotate icon to continue to rotate the photo in the viewer. Crop the photo to a specific area by first zooming in (touch the photo and spread your thumb and index finger apart) in the viewer. Then hold down on the photo and drag it in the viewer until you see the part of the photo you want to post on your Instagram feed. If you decide you don’t want to crop the photo, zoom back out to the photo’s original size by pinching your thumb and index finger together in the viewer. You can overlay a grid on the photo to help you center it. On the iPhone and iPad, the grid icon appears at the upper-left corner of the screen. Tap the grid icon to change the size of the grid. On an Android device, tap the photo until you see the size of the grid you want. If you tap the grid icon or photo often enough, you’ll remove the grid entirely. Brightness: In the slider bar below the viewer, slide the dot to the left to darken the photo or to the right to make the photo brighter. As you move the slider bar, the photo in the viewer darkens or brightens accordingly. Contrast: In the slider bar, make the light areas of your photo even lighter by sliding the dot to the left. Make the dark areas even darker so the focus is on the lighter areas of your photo by sliding the dot to the right. Lux tool: At the top center of the Filter and Edit screens is an icon that looks like a magic wand. Tap it to open the Lux tool, which you can use to quickly change the exposure level and brightness instead of using the separate Brightness and Contrast editing tools. Move the slider to change the exposure level and brightness. When you’re finished, tap Done to save your changes, or tap Cancel to discard them. If you want to undo any edits you’ve made, tap the Lux icon and then move the slider to its default location, 50. (The default setting for the Brightness and Contrast editing tools, however, is 0.) When you’re done, tap Done. Structure: This tool enhances the details in the photo, such as adding color in an area that appears washed out in the original. In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to see how the tool increases the details of the photo in the viewer. If you think the photo is too detailed, slide to the left to make the photo fuzzier. Warmth: In the slider bar below the viewer, slide the dot to the right to make the colors warmer by adding orange tones or to the left to make the colors cooler by adding blue tones. Saturation: In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right or left to increase or decrease, respectively, the intensity of all colors in your photo. Color: You can change the color of your photo’s shadows or highlights or both, as well as change the intensity of the tint. Eight colors are available: yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, cyan, or green. To change the color of shadows in your photo: Tap Shadows, if necessary (it’s the default), and then tap one of the color dots. To change the highlight color: Tap Highlights, and then tap one of the eight color dots, which are the same colors as those used for shadows. To change the tint intensity for the shadow or highlight color: Tap the color dot twice. In the slider bar that appears below the viewer, slide the dot to the left or right to decrease or increase the intensity, respectively. When the intensity looks good to you, release your finger from the dot and then tap Done (iPhone or iPad) or tap the check mark (Android) to return to the Color page. Fade: Do you want your photo to look like it’s been sitting in a shoebox for years . . . or decades? In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to fade the color from your photo or to the left to add color. Highlights: In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to increase the brightness in bright areas of the photo. Slide to the left to darken the bright areas in the photo. Shadows: In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to lighten the dark areas in your photo. Slide to the left to darken the dark areas. Vignette: This tool allows you to darken the edges of the photo so people will focus on the center of the photo. In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to darken the photo edges. Tilt Shift: You can blur the outer edges of your photo and keep the center in clear focus so people will automatically look at the focused area. Tap Radial below the viewer to blur all four edges of the photo and keep the center focused in a circular shape. Tap Linear to blur just the top and bottom edges of the photo. You can change the size of the “unblurred” area of the picture by tapping the center of the photo with your thumb and forefinger. Then spread them apart to make the area larger or together to make the area smaller. Tap Off if you don’t like the changes and want to keep your entire photo in focus. Sharpen: This tool sharpens features that aren’t visible in the original photo, such as the texture on a wall. In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right and left to make the photo less and more fuzzy, respectively. After you finish making changes to your photo, apply your effect by tapping Done (iOS) or the check mark (Android). Or discard the effect by tapping Cancel (iOS) or the X (Android). Saving the changes (or not) to your Instagram photos When you’ve finished using Instagram’s editing tools and filters, you can do one of three things: Discard your changes and return to the Photo screen by tapping the left arrow icon in the upper-left corner and then tapping Discard in the pop-up menu. Save your changes and continue editing by tapping the left arrow icon and then tapping Save Draft in the pop-up menu. Then Instagram takes you back to the camera screen, not your photo, so you’ll have to select the photo in your library to continue editing it. Add a description to the photo by tapping Next in the upper-right corner. The New Post screen appears, where you can add a caption and location, tag friends, and decide if you want to share the photo on other social networks. Now, go show the Instagram world all of your best shots!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-22-2022

Before you start using Instagram to promote your business, you may want to learn the lingo that Instagrammers use. Instagram doesn't like accounts that act spammy or over-engage in certain behaviors, so you need to become familiar with a number of restrictions as well as the appropriate image or video size to showcase your products and services. When you follow other Instagram profiles, you can share posts and even entire profiles in a direct message to another Instagram user.

Article / Updated 01-14-2022

Instagram has a popular feature for users called stories. Instagram stories are located in a bar at the top of your newsfeed and are represented by a multicolored ring around the profile picture of the story’s creator. Tap the profile picture, and the story opens full screen for you to watch. How to find stories to watch on Instagram New stories (personalized for you) are shown first. By scrolling left, you can see all stories that the people you follow have published in the last 24 hours. The story vanishes 24 hours after it was posted. When you view a person’s story, they can see that you’ve watched it. There is currently no way to block this feature. So, be aware if you’re looking at an ex's story. They know! Instagram stories are also accessible from the top left of a person’s profile page. If the person has an active story, their profile picture has a multicolored ring around it. You don’t need to be following the person to see their stories, as long as their account isn’t private. Tap the profile picture, and the story opens full-screen for you to watch. After that person’s stories have finished, the stories page closes and you’re returned to their profile page. If you want to watch a continuing sequence of stories from people you follow, you must access the stories from the top of your Home feed. Instagram always takes you to the content you haven’t seen in that person’s story. For instance, if you watched two out of five stories by someone, Instagram would play the third story in the sequence when you came back within the 24-hour window of the post. Each person’s story has white dashes at the top that indicate the number of stories for that person that day. Instagram stories continue to play through each person’s entire sequence, and then go directly to the next person you’re following who has a current story, until you tap the X to exit (iPhone) or swipe down (Android) from Instagram Stories. (You’ll see some ads interspersed with stories from the people you follow.) How to interact with Instagram stories Instagram stories aren’t just for watching; you can interact with them too. You can skip the stories you’re not interested in, rewatch things you want to see again, pause a story, and react to a story. Forwarding through Instagram stories you don’t like With so many Instagram stories out there, there are bound to be some you’d rather not watch. Lucky for you, it’s easy to skip through individual stories from one person, or a complete story sequence from a person. To forward through one story within a person’s full story sequence, simply tap on the right side of the screen. You’ll skip to that person’s next story, unless it’s their last or only story; in that case, you’ll be taken to the next person’s story. To forward through a person’s entire sequence of stories, swipe left from the right side of the screen. You’ll skip that person’s full set of stories and move on to the next person’s stories. If you’re searching for a particular person’s story, it may be easier to go directly to their profile and watch, or you can scroll through the profile circles at the top of your Home page to find the person whose story you want to watch. Tap that person’s circle to see their story. When you’re finished watching, tap the X at the top right of the screen or swipe down to be returned to your Home screen. Going back to Instagram stories you want to see again The process of going back to see a story is the opposite of forwarding through a story (makes sense, right?). If you’ve already watched a few stories from one person, and you want to rewatch one or more stories from them, tap the left side of the screen until you reach the story you’re seeking. To go back to a different person’s sequence of stories, swipe right from the left side of the screen until you get back to that person’s story. Similar to forwarding, if you’re seeking a certain person’s story, it’s easier to go directly to their profile to watch, or scroll through the circles at the top of your Home screen to find that person. When you’re finished watching, tap the X at the top right of the screen or swipe down to be returned to your Home screen. Pausing an Instagram story Instagram stories tend to whip by pretty fast, and sometimes people add lots of text, or talk really fast to squeeze a lot of info in before getting cut off. Lucky for you, there is a way to pause a story so you can take it all in. To pause a story, just tap and hold anywhere on the screen, and the story remains frozen until you let go. Reacting to an Instagram story Reactions to stories are more limited than posts in the regular Instagram feed. You can’t “like” a story; you can only send a direct message or send a photo or video message back. To send a direct message in response to a story, follow these steps: Tap the Send Message area at the bottom of the screen. Quick Reactions (emojis) and a keyboard appears. Type a message or use one of the Quick Reaction emojis above the keyboard. When your message is complete, tap Send. To send a photo or video message in response to a story, follow these steps: Tap the camera icon at the lower-left side of the screen. The photo/video screen appears with all the capabilities to add text, emojis, GIFs, and so on. To take a photo, tap the white circle. To take a video, tap and hold the white button for up to 15 seconds. You can turn the camera for selfie mode by tapping the circle arrows at the bottom right. Add any text, emojis, or GIFs you’d like to add to your photo or video. Use the slider at the bottom of the screen to allow the person to View Once or Allow Replay. Tap the profile picture above Send to send your message. Instagram story limitations If you’ve watched a few Instagram stories by now, you’ve probably noticed that they’re all in vertical or portrait mode, and videos are in short sequences. Following, are the exact criteria for your Instagram photos, videos, and graphics in stories. Upload criteria limitations All photos, graphics, and videos are best in the following formats: Image ratio: 4:5 (vertical only) or 9:16 for photos Image size minimum: 600 x 1,067 pixels Image size maximum: 1,080 x 1,920 pixels File type: PNG or JPG for photos/graphics or MP4 or MOV for videos File size max: 30MB for photos, 4GB for videos If you take a photo or video within Instagram stories in portrait mode, you won’t have to worry about these size ranges — it will automatically fit. If you import photos, graphics or videos from other sources, you need to pay closer attention to sizing. You can upload photos, graphics, and videos that are not in these image size ranges, but the Stories editor will likely either cut off part of your image or zoom in to wherever it likes, causing poor image quality. Playing-time limitations for Instagram stories Currently, you can only record or upload in 15-second increments. If you’re filming within the app, the camera will stop recording at the 15-second mark, and longer videos will not load from your camera if they’re over 15 seconds. This can be very challenging if you’re trying to explain something or tell a story. If you need to record for longer amounts of time, there are several apps available to help you. Try CutStory, Continual, StoryCutter, or Storeo. They all work in a similar manner, allowing you to record a single longer video on your smartphone outside of Instagram, and then splitting it up into 15-second segments that are placed on your camera roll so you can upload them one-by-one. The app also makes the transition between stories more seamless than when you film them within the Instagram app.

Article / Updated 09-16-2021

Your name and username are two of the most important components of your Instagram profile because they are the only two searchable criteria of your profile. When users type a keyword or name in the search field on Instagram, the app looks at only the username and name fields of accounts to determine if an account is relevant to that search query. The username is the string of characters at the top of profile. The name is the bold text below the profile photo. If you want your business to be found by a keyword or phrase, be sure to include it in either the name or username for your account. Choosing the best Instagram username You must select a username when you set up a new Instagram account. Your Instagram username is how you are recognized on Instagram. All activity, from the content you post to how you engage with others, is associated with your username. The username is at the top of the profile. Your username is the component of your Instagram URL that defines your account. It's delineated with the @ symbol when referring to you as a user. The URL for your Instagram account is http://instagram.com/yourusername When you interact on Instagram, the username appears as yourusername An Instagram username is limited to 30 characters and must contain only letters, numbers, periods, and underscores. You can't include symbols or other punctuation marks as a part of your username. Choose a username that represents your brand, is recognizable, and, if possible, distinguishes what you do. Your username might be simply your business name or an adapted version of your business name, such as @louboutinworld, instead of Christian Louboutin. Or you might also include a word or two that describes your business industry or niche to further define who you are, such as @yorkelee_prints. Choosing a username that is different than your business name may confuse Instagram users as to whether or not your account is the official account for your business. It's best to keep variations as minimal as possible to avoid confusion. During the registration portion of your Instagram account, you're prompted to select your username. If the username you selected is available, a check mark will appear. If someone is using that username, an X will appear in the username field. Keep selecting alternatives until you find an available username. Usernames are provided on a first-come basis. If you’re signing up for a new Instagram account using the web version, Instagram will populate an available username for you. Delete this username and type one that represents your brand. If the username you want to use is unavailable, you can use alternative options by adding periods or underscores to the username, by using abbreviations, or by adding another word. There is little you can do to have an existing username transferred to your account if it's in use or was previously used by another account. If another account is using your registered trademark as its username, visit Instagram for information on how to file a claim of trademark violation. It's good practice to read your username objectively before finalizing it. When you combine more than one word into a single username, without spacing, the arrangement of the letters may read differently or inappropriately to others. For example, @yourusername might be read as “You Ruse R Name” instead of “Your Username.” When this is the case, consider adding periods or underscores to separate the words within the username as follows: @your.username or @your_username. After you select a username, all content linking to your profile is associated with the username's URL. If you want to change the username at some point, your URL would change and you would need to update all backlinks and links to that profile accordingly. This is why it's best to choose the right username when setting up your profile. If you do want to change your username, follow these easy steps: Go to your profile on Instagram on either your mobile device or your computer. Tap or click Edit Profile. In the Username field, type the new username. Save your changes.To do so, tap the check mark, Done, Save, or Submit button (depending on the device you're using). Choosing the best name for Instagram Your Instagram name is visible only when someone visits your profile directly. The name appears in bold below the profile photo. Your profile will perform better in searches and look more professional if the name and username are different. Having a name that's different from your username provides double the opportunity for keywords and searchable criteria in the Instagram app. Power users on Instagram take the time to craft good username and name components. Unlike your username, which is one word, your name should be in proper sentence structure with capital letters and spacing. Your name (like your username) is limited to 30 characters, including spaces. You can use your actual name or business name as your name on Instagram. Or you may choose to use an abbreviation or a commonly recognized description of your business. For example, if your business is a pizza restaurant called Farm Fresh Pizza, your username might be farm.fresh.pizza and your name might be Best Pizzeria in Boston. You can be found in more searches on Instagram if you include a keyword or phrase in your name or username or both. If you didn't put a defining keyword in your username, you should include one in your name field, in addition to your actual name. The name on your profile is not tied to your URL or other defining aspects of Instagram, so you can change it at any time. Consider adding or changing keywords, as necessary, to appeal to your target audience on Instagram. If you want to change your name, do the following: Go to your Instagram profile, and tap or click Edit Profile. In the Name field, type the new name. Save your changes.To do so, tap the check mark, Done, Save, or Submit button (depending on the device you're using).

Article / Updated 09-01-2021

You don’t need to have one Instagram post for each photo. Instead, you can add as many as ten photos in your Camera Roll (or Gallery if you use an Android smartphone) to a single post. Selecting multiple photos To choose more than one photo to add to a post, do the following: In the main Instagram feed screen, tap the + icon. Tap Library, in the lower-left corner of the screen.The most recent photo in your Camera Roll (or Gallery) appears in the viewer. Swipe in the thumbnail photos, and then tap the first photo you want to add. Tap the select multiple icon.The selected thumbnail appears dimmed, with a blue number 1. Tap another thumbnail.The photo appears in the viewer, and a number 2 appears next to the thumbnail. That number shows you the order in which your followers will see the photos in your post. If you select a photo but then decide that you don’t want to include it, just tap the thumbnail photo. The order of your photos will change if you selected more than two photos. To deselect all photos, tap the blue select multiple icon in the lower-right corner of the viewer. Continue tapping thumbnails as needed.Here, three photos are chosen. The numbers reflect the order in which the photos were selected. When you have finished selecting photos, tap Next.The Edit screen appears. Edit the photos by tapping Next in the upper-right corner of the screen. To reorder the photos, you have to deselect them and then reselect them in the correct order. (Yes, this is something Instagram needs to work on.) For example, suppose you select five photos and want to move photos 3 and 4 to positions 4 and 5, respectively. First deselect photos 3 and 4. At this point, the former photo 5 becomes photo 3. Then select the former photo 3, which becomes photo 4, and then select the former photo 4, which becomes photo 5. Applying filters and adding photos After you have selected your photos and tapped Next, the Edit screen appears. The top of the screen displays the photo you’re editing. A row of filter types appears below the photo. Swipe from right to left in the row to view all the filters. To apply a filter to all photos in the group, tap the thumbnail image under the filter name. At the right side of the screen, you see part of the next photo in your photo group. To see the other photos, swipe left. To add another photo to your post, swipe to the end of the row, tap the + icon, and then select the photo from the Camera Roll screen. Editing photos individually To edit a photo, tap it in the row of photos. The selected photo appears in the center of your screen. Now you can do the following: Add a filter: Swipe right to left in the filter row, and then tap the filter thumbnail image. Change the exposure and brightness levels at once: Tap the Lux icon (half-light, half-dark sun) at the top of the screen. Perform other editing tasks: Tap Edit to access the editing tools. Tap Done in the upper-right corner when you're finished. Adding information and sharing your photos When your photos are the way you want them, tap Next in the upper-right corner of the Edit screen. In the New Post screen, you can write a caption, tag people, add a location, share your photo on other social networks, and turn commenting on and off. You can't write a caption for each photo when you have multiple photos in your post. So when you write your description, the caption should describe all your photos, not just one. When you've finished editing your photos, it's time to share them. Tap Share in the upper-right corner of the New Post screen.

Article / Updated 08-17-2021

Instagram knows that looks are important, so they've gone ahead and built a photo editor right into their app. Now you can tweak pictures from your phone before posting them for the world to see. After all, nothing is worse than a dull, flat photo. The horror! View Instagram's editing tools by tapping Edit at the bottom of the screen. A row of editing tools appears below the viewer. Swipe from right to left in the row of editing tools to see all 13 tools. Tap a tool to open it below the viewer. What you see below the viewer depends on the tool you tapped. For example, when you tap the Brightness tool, a slider appears so you can increase or decrease the photo’s brightness. No matter what tool you use, the photo in the viewer reflects the changes you make. Here’s what you can do with each tool: Adjust: You can adjust your photo in several ways by using the Adjust tool. A row of three icons and an associated slider bar appear below the photo so you can make the following changes: Change the vertical or horizontal perspective of the photo by tapping the left or right icon, respectively, below the photo. After you tap the icon, it’s highlighted in black. The slider bar is a series of vertical lines. Swipe left and right in the slider bar to see the change reflected in the photo. As you slide, the highlighted icon above the slider bar is replaced with a box that shows you the change amount measured in degrees. If the object in your photo appears tilted, tap the straighten icon in the middle of the icon row. Then swipe left and right in the slider bar to tilt the photo so that the object appears straight. As you swipe in the slider bar, a box appears in place of the straighten icon and shows you the number of degrees you’re tilting the photo. Rotate the photo 90 degrees counterclockwise by tapping the rotate icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Keep tapping the rotate icon to continue to rotate the photo in the viewer. Crop the photo to a specific area by first zooming in (touch the photo and spread your thumb and index finger apart) in the viewer. Then hold down on the photo and drag it in the viewer until you see the part of the photo you want to post on your Instagram feed. If you decide you don’t want to crop the photo, zoom back out to the photo’s original size by pinching your thumb and index finger together in the viewer. Brightness: In the slider bar below the viewer, slide the dot to the left to darken the photo or to the right to make the photo brighter. As you move the slider bar, the photo in the viewer darkens or brightens accordingly. Contrast: In the slider bar, make the light areas of your photo even lighter by sliding the dot to the left. Make the dark areas even darker so the focus is on the lighter areas of your photo by sliding the dot to the right. Lux tool: At the top center of the Filter and Edit screens is an icon that looks like a half-light, half-dark sun. Tap it to open the Lux tool, which you can use to quickly change the exposure level and brightness instead of using the separate Brightness and Contrast editing tools. Move the slider to change the exposure level and brightness. When you’re finished, tap Done to save your changes, or tap Cancel to discard them. If you want to undo any edits you’ve made, tap the Lux icon and then move the slider to its default location, 50. (The default setting for the Brightness and Contrast editing tools, however, is 0.) When you’re done, tap Done. If you’ve undone any edits in tools other than Lux, you won’t see the gray dot below the tool button. Structure: This tool enhances the details in the photo, such as adding color in an area that appears washed out in the original. In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to see how the tool increases the details of the photo in the viewer. If you think the photo is too detailed, slide to the left to make the photo fuzzier. Warmth: In the slider bar below the viewer, slide the dot to the right to make the colors warmer by adding orange tones or to the left to make the colors cooler by adding blue tones. Saturation: In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right or left to increase or decrease, respectively, the intensity of all colors in your photo. Color: You can change the color of your photo's shadows or highlights or both, as well as change the intensity of the tint. Eight colors are available: yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, cyan, or green. To change the color of shadows in your photo: Tap Shadows, if necessary (it's the default), and then tap one of the color dots. To change the highlight color: Tap Highlights, and then tap one of the eight color dots, which are the same colors as those used for shadows. To change the tint intensity for the shadow or highlight color: Tap the color dot twice. In the slider bar that appears below the viewer, slide the dot to the left or right to decrease or increase the intensity, respectively. When the intensity looks good to you, release your finger from the dot and then tap Done to return to the Color page. Fade: Do you want your photo to look like it’s been sitting in a shoebox for years…or decades? In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to fade the color from your photo or to the left to add color. Highlights: In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to increase the brightness in bright areas of the photo. Slide to the left to darken the bright areas in the photo. Shadows: In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to lighten the dark areas in your photo. Slide to the left to darken the dark areas. Vignette: This tool allows you to darken the edges of the photo so people will focus on the center of the photo. In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right to darken the photo edges. Tilt Shift: You can blur the outer edges of your photo and keep the center in clear focus so people will automatically look at the focused area. Tap Radial below the viewer to blur all four edges of the photo and keep the center focused. Tap Linear to blur just the top and bottom edges of the photo. You can change the size of the “unblurred” area of the picture by tapping the center of the photo with your thumb and forefinger. Then spread them apart to make the area larger or together to make the area smaller. Tap Off if you don’t like the changes and want to keep your entire photo in focus. Sharpen: This tool sharpens features that aren’t visible in the original photo, such as the texture on a wall. In the slider bar, slide the dot to the right and left to make the photo less and more fuzzy, respectively. After you finish making changes to your photo, apply your effect by tapping Done. Or discard the effect by tapping Cancel. After you apply an effect, a gray dot appears below the effect's icon as a reminder that your photo now sports that effect. Lookin' good!

Article / Updated 08-06-2021

Your Instagram bio is a short description on your profile that tells people about you. This description is the Instagram equivalent to a 30-second elevator pitch — it’s how you convince new visitors to follow your account. Most people will read your bio only the first time they visit your Instagram profile. Your bio is the first impression you give to new viewers and should accurately convey the message you want to share. Deciding what information to include in your Instagram bio Before you start writing your Instagram bio, choose at least two or three key aspects of your life to highlight. These should be traits that will connect emotionally, in some way, with your those you want to attract, such as the example shown below. You need to determine the voice and style of your bio. If you’re the next Amy Schumer, your Instagram bio should reflect that irreverent, hilarious style through words and relevant emojis. In contrast, if your identity is more straight laced and serious, your bio shouldn’t be silly and humorous. Even if your profile is meant to connect with friends and family, sharing your personality and purpose in the bio will help clarify that to people who may find you. The Instagram bio is limited to 150 characters, including spaces. The bio is designed to be one single paragraph of information, but you can use formatting techniques to add spaces and line breaks. Because Instagram was designed to be used on a mobile device, it’s best to format your bio on a mobile device so that you retain the correct alignment. No matter what formatting you create, your bio on a desktop or computer device will always be one long paragraph spanning the width of the browser, unlike the vertical alignment seen on mobile devices. Make use of emojis and symbols from your mobile device’s keyboard to create visual appeal in your Instagram bio. To add emojis, open the emoji keyboard on your mobile device — just tap the smiley-face icon at the bottom of your keyboard. Instagram is a visual platform, and having emojis in the bio helps yours stand out from other users. You have many emojis to choose from. If the traditional funny face and cartoonish emojis don’t translate to your style, use simple emoji symbols such as squares, diamonds, triangles, and arrows to add color and visual content without detracting from your professional style. To hashtag or not to hashtag in your Instagram bio Generally, hashtags are not a good idea in Instagram bios. Although they are clickable, if someone clicks the hashtag in your bio, he’ll leave your profile and explore the hashtag gallery results instead. Using a hashtag like #photographer will send visitors from your profile to millions of other posts using that hashtag. Using hashtags in your Instagram bio is not a viable way to get more followers or showcase your own content. You should only include hashtags in your bio if they’re specific to you, your content, or your business. For example, if you recently got married and you had a hashtag for your wedding, you can include that hashtag in your bio so that anyone tapping on it will find all the other content created at your wedding. Formatting your Instagram bio You can edit or create your bio by tapping the Edit Profile button in your Instagram profile. On the Edit Profile screen, go to the Bio field and insert the text for your bio. Save any changes when you’re finished. Android users can format a bio completely in Instagram. If you want to include line breaks and spacing, tap the Return or Enter key (on the keyboard of your mobile device) at the end of the line. Make sure that you don’t have an extra space after the final character on the line and that the last character on the line is not an emoji. If you have an extra space or an emoji as the final character, the space breaks you inserted with the Return or Enter key will not appear in your published text. iOS users can format a bio in Instagram, but line breaks will not be retained. Instead, it’s best to open the Notes app on your device and use it to craft your bio description, including all formatting. Then copy the bio, open Instagram again, select Edit Profile, and paste the description in the Bio field. As with Android users, you must ensure that no extra space appears after the final character on the line and that the last character on the line is not an emoji. You can edit and rewrite your bio as often as you want. It’s a good idea to review your Instagram bio every six months to verify that the information is still accurate and relevant. Considering layouts for your Instagram bio Instagram has traditionally had the profile photo on the left side of the profile and the bio directly beneath it. As Instagram has added more features, like IGTV and Story Highlights, the profile section has gotten longer and taken up more space. To alleviate this problem, Instagram began truncating the bios with a “. . . more” link. Tapping the “. . . more” link will open the full bio. Additionally, Instagram started rolling out new profile layouts with the profile on the right side of the profile and a more condensed spacing to allow for better positioning of the bio content. You may see any variation of the bio formats above. Adding a web address to your Instagram bio Most people use web addresses in their bios when they’re using their Instagram profiles for business purposes. But there may be occasions where you want to share a website link even on your personal profile. Perhaps you want to send people to your YouTube videos, or to your personal gallery of photos on Flickr, or to a reservation link for an upcoming party. In any of these situations, or others, you can include the URL for that destination in the link location in your Instagram bio. The only place that you can place a clickable link on Instagram, as a personal profile, is in the bio. You can’t include clickable links in regular posts or stories. If you have any reason to send people to a website link, you’ll need to place that link here in the bio. From the Edit Profile button on your Instagram profile, there is the option to list a URL link. Simply copy and paste or type in the link address in this field. Your URL can be updated or changed as frequently as you like. You may have a default web page for your profile but change it to coincide with a promotion or campaign you’re running on Instagram. After that campaign is complete, you can change the link back to your default or simply delete it if you don’t have anything to drive traffic to. On a personal profile, you won’t get Instagram analytics regarding how many people clicked the link in your bio. If you wanted to use this feature for business and drive traffic for your business, you would want to upgrade to a business profile on Instagram.

Article / Updated 06-09-2021

So, what is IGTV? IGTV was introduced in 2018 as a standalone app that integrated with Instagram. Sound confusing? It is! IGTV was designed to be its own app for viewing and interactions, and yet it’s tied directly to your Instagram profile. It’s a video-only platform with some unique components. In this article, we show you the various aspects of IGTV, how you can use it, and what makes it different. We also explain why you’re seeing what you see in the feed. Finding IGTV within Instagram Even though IGTV is a singular component, it’s accessible from two places in the Instagram app: On an account’s profile: If the account is using IGTV and has created videos, you’ll see the little IGTV icon just below the highlights on the user’s profile page. The left side of the figure shows you where to find IGTV from an account’s profile. On the Explore page: On the Explore page (tap the magnifying glass icon in the bottom navigation bar to get there), an IGTV tab is at the top of the screen. The right side of the figure shows you where that’s located. In addition to these two locations, you can also see IGTV videos recommended for you on the Explore page. The videos will appear in the list of suggested content, as shown. If someone you follow creates an IGTV video and shares a preview of that video to Instagram, you’ll also see that preview as a post when you’re scrolling through your feed (see the left side of the following figure). It will appear as a regular post, but you’ll see the IGTV icon in the lower-left corner of the video. If you tap that icon, you’ll be taken to the full IGTV video; if you watch the entire 1-minute preview, you’ll be prompted to watch the remainder of the video on IGTV (see the center of the following figure). Tapping that option will open the IGTV video and allow you to continue watching (see the right side of the following figure). How to find IGTV in the IGTV app As we already mentioned, IGTV is a standalone app. You can install it from the app store for your device by searching for IGTV. After you’ve installed the app on your device, you can log in as the same account you use on Instagram. All your profile information and followers will transfer to the IGTV app. If you unfollow or follow someone on IGTV, that same interaction occurs on your Instagram account, and vice versa. The two are linked and you can’t follow different people on IGTV than you do on your Instagram account. After you have your IGTV account set up and you’re in the app, you’ll be taken to the home feed (see the following figure). This is where the videos of the people you follow and those recommended for you will all appear. You can scroll vertically through the videos and tap any video to play it. How IGTV videos are formatted IGTV was originally designed to be used only with vertical videos. In addition, the video viewer would not rotate when the mobile device was turned to the horizontal position (as most other video players do). However, in 2019, Instagram announced that it would start allowing horizontal videos to be uploaded and that those videos would rotate with the screen. IGTV videos can be from 1 minute to 1 hour in length. They encourage longer-form content that keeps viewers watching longer. In contrast to Instagram stories, IGTV videos are meant to share more in-depth content. Videos from 1 to 15 minutes in length can be uploaded via your mobile device. Videos over 15 minutes in length can be uploaded only via a desktop computer. Whose videos you’re seeing Your IGTV home feed is full of the IGTV videos created by everyone you follow on Instagram. Whenever someone you follow adds another IGTV video, it will appear in your list of videos. To keep you interested, however, much like the Explore page on Instagram, the IGTV home feed will populate videos that it thinks you’ll be interested in. These are not accounts you’re following, but the video content or the account creators are similar in interest to other content you watch or accounts you follow. If your IGTV Explore feed has a video that you don’t like or want to see, tap and hold down on the video preview in the feed. Then tap the option for notifying IGTV that you're not interested in that post. Or when viewing a video full-screen, tap the three-dot button at the bottom of the screen to access a menu that enables you to notify IGTV that you're not interested in that post, copy the link to the post, share the video, save the video, or report the video. Tapping the Not Interested menu option tells the algorithm to show you less of that type of content.