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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Five cool Instagram features you should know about
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Five cool Instagram features you should know about

Instagram has a lot of interesting features which makes it a perfect go to social media app for shutter-happy users

The Stories feature allows users to publish multiple photos or a video clip collectively to create a slideshow of one’s favorite moments.Premium
The Stories feature allows users to publish multiple photos or a video clip collectively to create a slideshow of one’s favorite moments.

Photo sharing platform Instagram has improved a lot in the last few months. Several new features have been added to keep the users engaged on the platform for longer time. While image filters still remain the biggest highlight on the platform, and the reason why many use it, there are some really street-smart features which can make using this social networking app a lot more fun. Here are some of the cool features of Instagram which every user should know about.

Stories

This feature allows users to publish multiple photos or a video clip collectively to create a slideshow of one’s favorite moments. Creating Stories is easy and starts with taking a picture or recording a short clip using the app’s in-built camera. To open the camera one needs to swipe left to right on the home page. Once a picture is taken, user can edit it, add text or a drawing on it, after which it will be automatically saved to Stories. Every time a user wants to share a moment, he can repeat the task and the new photo or clip will be added to the uploaded Stories section. Stories section doesn’t show along with posts but separately on top of the home page. At the end of the day the photos and video in Stories disappear automatically from the user’s profile. In case one wants to keep the photos and videos taken for the Stories go to Options-> story settings->save shared photos.

Save draft

The most recent addition to Instagram, Save draft works on similar lines as the save draft in email apps such as Gmail or Outlook. Uploading a photo or a story on Instagram can take more time than uploading photos on any other social media platform as a user needs time to try out the multiple editing options and filters on Instagram. While editing a file, user can save the progress by tapping on the Save Draft option. User can get back to the exact point in the draft by tapping on the Camera icon at the lower end of the screen->Library->Drafts.

Instagram Direct

Instagram is not just about sharing photos, liking them or commenting on them. With Direct one can chat directly with people they are following or vice versa. It also allows user to send images or video clips directly to a user, just like Facebook messenger or WhatsApp. One can access it by swiping right to left on the home page, tapping on the plus icon at the top of the screen and select the option to send a message or photo or video and then send it to the person in their list.

Data friendly mode

Uploading a photo or video using cellular data can incur a sizeable cost. However, there is a way around it. Instagram has a Cellular data mode, which uses less data when the phone is not on a WiFi network. However, one needs to activate it by going to Options-> Settings->Cellular Data Use and checking the option to use less data.

Edit after posting

This is a cool feature which allows users to make changes in a post that has already been published. One can change the text in the captions, add a new location or tag more people by simply tapping on the three dots icon on the top right corner of the post. The pop-up window shows the edit option right at the second place. Users can tap on it and correct any error they had made in the post and republish it.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhijit Ahaskar
Abhijit writes on tech policy, gaming, security, AI, robotics, electronics and startups. He has been in the media industry for over 12 years.
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Published: 22 Sep 2016, 11:59 AM IST
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