It’s time to look at the terminology surrounding another social media platform: Instagram! (We’ll be referring back to our previous post in this series, which dealt with Facebook terminology. You can find that blog post here.)
Feed
Let’s start with an Instagram Feed. Your Feed is very similar to your News Feed on Facebook–this is the place where updates from accounts you follow are collected and displayed. The order in which these updates are displayed is called the Algorithm, and it can change and adapt with time, but generally, newer posts will be shown first.
Post
So what is a post? A post on Instagram is an update that will be permanently displayed on your profile, unless you remove it. (This is different from Stories, which are deleted automatically after 24 hours. We’ll talk about those next.) Like on Facebook, you can Like and comment on posts, but unlike Facebook, a post on Instagram requires an image, multiple images, or video to go with it. (Text is optional for posts.)
Story
As mentioned above, an Instagram Story is like a post, but it is only active for 24 hours. (Stories can be preserved for longer in Highlights, another feature explained below.) Stories consist of images, graphics, or video clips, and they include their own set of features. You can decorate your Stories with GIFs or text, and you can add interactive features, like a Poll.
Bio
The bio is one of the first things people will see when they go to your profile. Located under your profile picture and follower numbers, your bio is the brief space you’re allocated to say something about your account. A bio is the only place on Instagram where links will be clickable, so a link to a business’ website or a blog will often be posted here. (For example, when a post references “Link in bio,” it means to check this space to find out more.)
Highlights
If you want a Story to last longer than 24 hours, you can save it to your Highlights. Highlights are located under your Bio, and they can be organized by categories that you create. If you don’t see Highlights on a specific profile, that user has yet to create them. Highlights are a great way to share important information, like positive reviews from customers, images and videos from events, or updates about changes to the location or hours of operation of your business.
Explore Page
The Explore Page is accessed via the small magnifying glass at the bottom of your screen. This page is full of posts and information from accounts that Instagram thinks you may be interested in. The Explore Page can be a great way to browse relevant content and discover new accounts to follow or interact with.
Hashtags
Discussed a little more in depth in this blog post, hashtags are a way of organizing information on Instagram. Every public post that is tagged with a specific hashtag can be accessed just by searching for that hashtag. (Depending on the popularity of that hashtag, that can mean browsing through millions of posts.) The benefit of using hashtags is that it enables other users who may not be following you to find your posts if they are going through relevant hashtags. For example, an aspiring baker may be browsing the hashtag #bakinglife and find a post from a baking account that they don’t yet follow, but since they now know about the account and like its content, they can start following and engaging with posts.
Tags/Tagging
Another aspect of social media that is explained more thoroughly in this post, tagging another account makes a connection to that account in a post, allowing readers to easily be taken to the other account. Accounts are also alerted when they have been tagged, so tagging can be a way to make virtual connections.
Think we missed something? Leave us a comment if there’s an Instagram term you would like explained further!
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