Most people, including myself, use social media on multiple devices. It can be smartphones, laptops, iPads, or others. A person posting pictures on Facebook on her mobile and returning home to add more posts from her laptop is not unusual. But while this has worked for social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, it has not been the same for Instagram. However, this is set to change. (We can already hear creators rejoicing, but wait!)
Instagram was initially created with a focus on mobiles, and keeping in mind the ever-increasing smartphone penetration. But now Facebook has confirmed that Instagram has opened up to the opportunity of letting users post photos from their desktops. A number of Twitter users have noticed that this test feature went live on Thursday.
You can now post photos directly from Instagram’s website on desktop, but not on iPad. The new functionality includes the ability to use filters and edit photos and videos as well.
It was industry insider Matt Navarra who first spotted the new functionality for Instagram’s desktop website. According to a tweet by Alessandro Paluzzi, the feature will roll out after 42 days.
It is no secret that the photo-sharing app has always favored phones – after all, it was created so that people could click pictures and take videos, and post them on its platform. In fact, it resisted building a web version of its product for that very reason. So what changed this time?
The answer, surprisingly, is the pandemic. With people forced into their homes for what seemed like indefinitely and having a ton of time in your hands with nothing to do, people respected to social media. With a unprecedented surge in its platform (especially from computers and not phones), Instagram made the decision. Posting on Instagram from a computer is not that different from posting from a phone.
According to spokesperson Christine Pai, the company is aware that many people access Instagram from their computers. To improve that experience, they are now testing the ability to create a Feed Post on Instagram with their desktop browser.
Users can check if the test is live for them by heading to Instagram in the browser and looking for a new ‘plus’ icon in the icon tray on the top right.
However, keep in mind that the test is not available for everyone right now and will only allow users to create posts for the main feed.
This is the most love Instagram has shown for its desktop product ever since it added the ability of direct messaging to desktop last year. Earlier, it had added the ability to view Stories om the web in 2017.
While the company’s focus continues to remain on mobile phones, it is hoped that desktops and iPads are not complete excluded as well.
