Blog & Company News
Jul 28, 2015
Instagram, Instasearch
Instagram introduced a newly overhauled search feature to its .com website this past Monday. Instagram created instagram.com, a web-based platform of its popular photo sharing mobile application in 2013. Originally just a larger (some would say more beautiful) representation of the app, instagram.com's new update marks the first time the company has added search features to the website. Users can now search for people, places, and hashtags via the web platform. Additionally, a “top posts” feature has been added to the website, which will provide results for most frequently searched photos, as well as recent posts.
An Instagram spokesperson shared that, “the web search is part of a broader commitment to improving discovery across our platforms.” In many ways, this update can be extremely beneficial for small business owners, as your posts can broaden your notoriety through proper use of hashtags and user searches.
The Instagram app has also been revamped to greatly improve search as well. The new explore features on mobile are, “intended to make it easier to follow moments, trends, and conversations in real-time.” Reportedly, these Instagram updates are very similar to what Twitter planned to roll out later this year. Twitter’s update includes human editors to organize and group tweets based on live events, in addition to a “Place Page,” which, like Instagram, can be used to search locations.
Although Twitter leads in the number of users by about two million, Instagram believes that this update will help them close the gap. In reality, many users of the respective networks overlap. But in the ongoing battle to be the One Social Network to Rule Them All, each platform is becoming significantly more like the other creating rivalries and friction.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/07/20/instagram-launches-first-web-search-tools/
Instagram introduced a newly overhauled search feature to its .com website this past Monday. Instagram created instagram.com, a web-based platform of its popular photo sharing mobile application in 2013. Originally just a larger (some would say more beautiful) representation of the app, instagram.com's new update marks the first time the company has added search features to the website. Users can now search for people, places, and hashtags via the web platform. Additionally, a “top posts” feature has been added to the website, which will provide results for most frequently searched photos, as well as recent posts.
An Instagram spokesperson shared that, “the web search is part of a broader commitment to improving discovery across our platforms.” In many ways, this update can be extremely beneficial for small business owners, as your posts can broaden your notoriety through proper use of hashtags and user searches.
The Instagram app has also been revamped to greatly improve search as well. The new explore features on mobile are, “intended to make it easier to follow moments, trends, and conversations in real-time.” Reportedly, these Instagram updates are very similar to what Twitter planned to roll out later this year. Twitter’s update includes human editors to organize and group tweets based on live events, in addition to a “Place Page,” which, like Instagram, can be used to search locations.
Although Twitter leads in the number of users by about two million, Instagram believes that this update will help them close the gap. In reality, many users of the respective networks overlap. But in the ongoing battle to be the One Social Network to Rule Them All, each platform is becoming significantly more like the other creating rivalries and friction.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/07/20/instagram-launches-first-web-search-tools/ 
