Instagram users can follow celebrities, friends, brands, and creepy pets, but there was never a way to follow their favorite hashtags. Until now.
On Tuesday, the social media platform introduced a feature that makes it much easier to curate your feeds based on your preferences and interests. The update basically allows you to follow a specific hashtag—like #streetstyle, #WCW, and #ballscape—the same way you follow an individual account. All you have to do is search the hashtag on Instagram’s explore field, click on the "follow" button, and you’ll then be presented with posts and stories marked with the specific hashtag.
If you’re concerned your feed will be flooded with low quality, random posts, don’t worry. According toThe Verge, Instagram will use its algorithm to present the best and most relevant posts based on likes and your activity. Don’t think you can rack up views by piling on a bunch of hashtags. It won’t work.
You can learn more about the new feature in The Verge’s video below.
Twitter has also announced a new feature that will make social media much more #convenient. Shortly after it expanded its character limit to 280, the site confirmed it began testing a tool for tweetstorms—a series of rapid, connected tweets also known as threads.
"A few years ago we noticed people creatively stitching Tweets together to share more information or tell a longer story," Twitter product manager Sasank Reddy wrote in a blog post. "We saw this approach (which we call ‘threading’) as an innovative way to present a train of thought, made up of connected but individual element […] But this method of Tweeting, while effective and popular, can be tricky for some to create and it’s often tough to read or discover all the Tweets in a thread."
Here’s how it’ll work, according The Verge: Once users create the introductory tweet, they can click on the "plus" button on the lower left corner of the compose box. Once they click, they’ll be presented with another compose box for the next tweet; the new box will also feature a "plus" button so the user can repeat the process until the tweetstorm is finished. You then select "tweet all."
Twitter says the "threads" feature will be available on iOS, Android, and Twitter.com in the coming weeks.
