12 Features That Make Instagram Fun

Instagram is undoubtedly my favourite social media app, okay maybe I love Twitter just as equal to be honest but Instagram is definitely the more fun one. Over the years, Instagram has grown and changed and it’s probably because more and more people and companies are joining so it has to try and cater for every kind of person and I personally feel like Instagram does a good job at that.

Instagram is always introducing new features and for people like me who are a child at heart, we love new things to play with. Below is a list of features which I enjoy using and what I love about these features is that they really improve your content and give viewers an experience. I have also included examples for those who may not know where to find these features and how to use them…

1. Being able to post more than one picture on one post

Instagram allows you to add up to 10 pictures and videos in one post and this is perfect for those of us who just cannot decide on which picture we like the most or if you want to show people your full experience of something.

2. Promoting your posts

This is more helpful for creatives, entrepreneurs and brands. You can now promote your post and/or story and even choose how many people you would like the post to reach and for how many days you would like the promotion to go on for and you also choose how much you are willing to pay for that.

3. IGTV

I was excited about this feature the day it was announced and funny enough the excitement is still there. IGTV is pretty much YouTube for Instagram, content created by Instagram users for Instagram users. After uploading a video on your IGTV channel, you can even add the link onto your story and feed to help promote it so when you see a ‘Swipe up’ text on stories you are probably in for a treat if you do swipe up.

The following features are for Instagram Stories. You can find these features by either swiping up after taking or selecting a photo/video or sliding left or right on the bottom options:

4. Boomerang

This is probably the cutest and funniest feature on Instagram. We all know what a boomerang does right? You throw it and it comes right back to you, well that’s what the Boomerang feature does too – it’s a short video that loops when you play it.

Tip: when recording a boomerang, avoid moving back to the position you started off in – if you lift your hand or leg, do not bring it back down until the boomerang stops recording to avoid having a weird looking boomerang.

5. GIFs

I absolutely love love love GIFs. These are short clips of reactions and they help viewers get visiuals on your response to something in particular. They also work best when you place them on something in the picture to make it look realistic, if there is a table or your shoulder is showing in the picture, put a GIF of someone sitting and it will appear as though they are actually with you.

6. Adding music

This is the latest addition to Instagram and boy do we love it! Now we can add music on our pictures or videos on our stories to show our mood. The music plays for 15 seconds and you can even choose which part you want to play.

7. Asking followers questions

What better way to engage with your followers than giving them a chance to interact with you or help you. Initially this feature used to annoy me because everyone made it a, “Ask me anything” type of game but now it is being put to good use – if you want to know what to watch on Netflix, select ‘Questions’ and ask away.

8. Polls

Ugh, also one of my absolute favs. Can’t decide on what to eat or what to do? Ask your fellow followers. A poll is basically a “This-or-that” type of question, people (including me) love having options so this can be fun to play around with too and you get to see and share the results.

9. Emoji rating

You can make your followers decide on how cool or true a certain quote is, all they need to do is slide the emoji from left to right – how far they slide it to the right tells you how much they agree with you or love what have posted so the furthest to the right means they totally dig it! This feature is sometimes faulty though because sometimes you miss the emoji or let go prematurely by mistake and guess what? You can’t rate that again.

10. Superzoom

Oh Superzoom, my darling friend! My sister is probably rolling her eyes if she is reading this because I Superzoom everything I see. This feature is pretty much your reaction to something in particular, there is a Superzoom effect for every mood trust me. You can find this feature just next to the Boomerang.

11. Rewind

With a lot of thought and creativity this could make you the coolest person on social media. The only thing you do here is press and hold the ‘Rewind’ feature while doing something ‘amazing’ and Instagram will play it in reverse for you. Again, if you are really creative, this could make you so cool. Don’t judge my lame example.

12. Highlights

Who doesn’t love highlights? We all do, right? Well, those of us who have them. Highlights are more or less albums of your life or whatever you like honestly. You create Highlights by clicking on the plus (+) button just below your bio. Create a name/title for your ‘album’ and upload stories related to that.