Instagram Limited Advertising Options for Showing Ads to Teens!

Striking the right balance of giving young people all the things on the platform while also maintaining the safety has become the priority of Instagram.

It’s, for this reason, the company is constantly rolling out features to shield the security of teen users that use the platform.

“Creating an experience on Instagram that’s safe and private for young people, but also fun comes with competing challenges. We want them to easily make new friends and keep up with their family, but we don’t want them to deal with unwanted DMs or comments from strangers. We think private accounts are the right choice for young people, but we recognize some young creators might want to have public accounts to build a following.”- mentioned Instagram.

In one of our previous article, we discusses the same about how Instagram decided to put account to private if a user is under 16.

Not only this, the feature also made it harder for potential suspicious accounts to find young people.

However, this time the company has limited the options advertisers have to reach young people with their ads. 

According to the new rules, advertisers would be able to target ads to people under 18 based on ONLY their age, gender, and location.

This means that the initially available options such as those based on interests or their activity on other apps and websites will no longer be available to advertisers.

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How to Share ’60-Second Reels’ on Instagram?

Dominating the competition has been the priority to social platforms no matter how hard it takes to make it happen.

It was just in January this year when the platform’s CEO, Adam Mosseri acknowledged the fact that competition app TikTok is doing better than their short-clip feature called Reels that the company rolled out in 2020.

And…

Just recently TikTok again made some changes and improved their existing feature by enabling its creators make videos up to 3 minutes long.

The extension was provided so users could expand their creativity and share better content as the longer time limit are more preferable for storytelling, cooking videos, etc.

Now coming back to Instagram…

The time when reels kicked off, Instagram limited its timing only up to 15 seconds cap.

However…

The platform sooner increased the timing up to 30 seconds just within a month (I guess, maybe because of users’ demand, or to compete TikTok).

Now when the time limit exceeded further on TikTok, that seemed like an alert to the social giant.

As a result, Instagram took it to its Twitter handle made a new announcement about a feature update.

Do you know what it was?

You are smart, my friend!

It’s the time extension that Instagram now enables its users.

With the recent update, Instagram users can now create reels up to 60 seconds which has made the platform even more preferable and also eased the complexity that users faced while conveying their message within 30 seconds.

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How to Use Sensitive Content Control on Instagram?

Instagram Sensitive Content Control

Instagram has turned out to be a platform that caters to the need of every user rather than only considering the majority.

Based on your previous preferences its algorithm precisely hits on what YOU (the user) wants to see on your feed.

No matter how big of an influencer or celebrity someone is, the platform won’t show you even a single picture if you have not interacted with their posts in the past.

And that’s Instagram, my friend!

It makes YOU the king of the platform.

You are shown the type of content you are interested in.

You control who can message you.

You can turn off commenting.

You can share stories in a closed circle, or can even hide them from specific someone.

You can even restrict someone if you are getting bullied by any user.

It’s all about YOU! (the user)

And it is for this reason…

We are seeing the scenarios getting flipped now.

In this era of Instagram, the equal concern is given from the creators to their followers as much as they receive from the other end.

Because the one who has been on the platform for a while now knows it quite well that if YOU don’t value and engage with the audience, the audience gets turned off.

And a turned-off audience results in low interaction and reach which ultimately curbs the account’s growth in every aspect of the platform.

Coming back to the users-oriented approaches…

Features like restrict, turning off comments, hiding like counts are some of such examples which were rolled out with the intention to safeguard each individual and empower them shape the platform’s experience according to their needs. 

However…

Instagram now took another step in the same lane rolling out yet another feature called ‘Sensitive Content Control’ that empowers YOU to decide the level of sensitive content that Instagram could surface in your explore feed.

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Instagram testing a new Anti-Harassment feature named ‘Limits’

Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram, recently confirmed during a live session that the company is currently testing a new feature named ‘Limits’.

The feature would help Instagram users keep them safe during any harassment phase by temporarily locking down their account for a certain period the timing of which users can select as per their situation.

Mentioning the reason why it was needed to be rolled out, Mosseri condemned the recent racism that was massively seen on the platform after the EURO 2020 finale. He further went about the issue that the company was facing earlier when angry fans started making racist comments after their team’s defeat.

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Instagram users can ‘Now Directly Post from Desktop’?

Instagram Post from Desktop

Clap-clap for the platform and their entire team!

It’s finally rolled out!!!

Now you can post Instagram pictures and videos right from your desktop.

No more going to third-party applications.

No more extra expenditure on unnecessary services.

No more extensions.

No more changing of user-agents via the developer section of the browser.

No more going back and forth to Creators Studio, or Facebook Business Suite when you have to post Instagram pictures and videos right from your desktop.

Nothing!

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Instagram’s Video Selfie Verification Error! (+FIXED)

Instagram always has an eye on accounts that have some suspicious activity so it could hunt down on such profiles that are ruining the platforms’ engagement.

And it is for this reason it has rolled out various security checks to safeguard its user’s privacy and flag the spammy ones.

Be it verifying it via a security code, or user’s cell number, there have already been many tools that Instagram made use of to counter such problems.

However, when there are solutions to a problem, there also exist bypasses which are nothing new in this Internet era.

And it is for this reason that even a 6th grader is able to bypass the security check via fake email, or cell numbers.

While these approaches when didn’t deliver the expected results to hunt down on spammy accounts, Instagram came up with a new technology that was new to social platforms.

Can you guess?

You are right, my friend!

It’s the ‘Instagram’s Video Selfie Verification’!

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Instagram Testing to Publish Posts from PC!

Instagram on the web is NOT one of the greatest places you want to be when it comes to getting to use all its functions.

And those who have used it know what I am referring to.

Right?

You can’t post a picture or video .

You can’t publish on IGTV.

You can’t react to stickers.

You can’t react to sliders.

You can’t post any stories.

You can’t view more than 9 popular posts of a certain hashtag.

And the list goes on.

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How to Hide Like Counts on Instagram?

How to hide like counts on Instagram

“Enough of the testing process, time to roll out the move.”

Well…

That’s not my statement!

But I guess the same would be the feeling when Instagram rolled its long-awaited feature that has been going through tests after tests for more than a year now.

Can you guess what I am referring to?

You are right, my friend:)

It’s the ‘hiding likes option’ that has been in the testing phase for way too long.

And I still remember when I first wrote about it and was quite excited to see the positive effects that it was rolled in intention with.

However…

When there came a number of tests to see the reactions of the audience if they liked it, there came a point where bloggers like me started to doubt if it would ever roll out.

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Instagram’s New Features to Safeguard Youngest Community!

As more people are joining the bandwagon of this photo-sharing platform, it has also given birth to a new situation that needs to be taken care of.

You know who I am referring to?

You got me right!

It’s the young people who are joining the platform on a massive scale.

Although Instagram already did a lot to address this issue, it has recently announced updates on new features and resources as part of its ongoing efforts to keep its youngest community members safe.

Instagram wants parents to have the information to help their kids have a positive and safe environment on the platform. It is for this reason, the company has collaborated with The Child Mind Institute and ConnectSafely to publish a new parents guide which includes the latest safety tools and privacy settings, and also a list of tips and conversation starters to help parents navigate discussions with their teens about their online presence. 

The updated Guide is currently launched with expert partners in the US and also some other countries which include Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and Singapore. Instagram also made it clear that pretty soon this updated guide would roll in several other countries.

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How to Add Pronouns in your Instagram Profile?

A perfect bio acts as a steroid that helps creator convert their profile visitors to loyal fans.

And ultimately…

Paying clients!

Right?

Bio optimization is 100% real and required.

No matter where you start, Instagram’s bio optimization comes first if you are serious about taking it to a long run.

And if you have optimized your profile, either by yourself or by hiring some professional, the number one issue that turns up in optimizing the bio part is the limit of characters that Instagram has put.

150 characters.

And???

That is it!

Not even a single more.

Although for some people 150 characters is fair enough for the bio part, few users (like me) often greed for just a few more that they wish they could add.

And as I always say, if you got it (the problem), Instagram has it (the solution).

Just two days back, Instagram rolled out a feature that now let users add pronoun to their Instagram profiles.

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