Today, Instagram shocked the world - and delighted its tremendous fanbase - by unveiling an all-new feature that its millions of users had been anticipating for the longest time.
Finally, the worldwide online image-sharing giant officially announced the integration of a multiple account feature into both the app’s Android and iOS versions. Thanks to this major change, users will now be able to add up to 5 accounts and freely switch from one account to another without the need to log out and log back in. On top of that, you'll also be able to receive notifications from each account, as long as they remain enabled and added to your list of active accounts.
How does it work?
To access this brand-new feature, all you have to do is go to the options page and select the “Add Account” button. Once added, the user may switch between the accounts by selecting the username at the top of the screen and selecting another key account they would like to use. It’s that simple.
Along with the upgraded feature comes a different way of handling the notifications. “They indicate that the notifications ‘depend on when you last logged in and the number of devices that are logged in to an account.’ From our understanding, this could indicate that users won’t receive all push notifications for all accounts, which may help conserve battery life on a user’s device,” writes Greg Barbos of 9to5mac.com.
This latest update has actually been brewing in the Instagram offices for some time already. Instagram first tested the account switching on Android last November, with a run on iOS following a couple of months later. As of this week, many smartphone users can already access the said feature.
Who stands to benefit from this?
As Instagram is increasingly becoming a force to be reckoned with when it comes to online visual marketing, it thus makes more sense for the app to add some form of functionality that allows people who represent companies to be able to switch from their personal to corporate accounts and vice versa as needed. A good example would be social media managers who handle different brands on Instagram (or even different sub-brands of the same company).
This feature is also a great boon for individuals who use Instagram for business, especially if they would like the ability to access their personal account and their official online store or business account at the same time.
It is definitely not a stretch to believe that this new functionality was influenced by the platform’s status as one of social media’s biggest platforms for marketing - and given the brand’s acquisition by that other social media giant, Facebook, it’s not surprising at all that the minds behind Instagram display a deeper understanding of what their fanbase truly needs.
Do you think this upgraded feature is helpful? What’s the next big Instagram update you want to see? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section!
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