Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 1.4 billion monthly active users. The app is constantly evolving and introducing new features to keep its users engaged and entertained. One of the latest changes that Instagram announced is a redesign of its home screen navigation bar, which will take effect next month.
The new navigation bar will have four tabs: Home, Explore, Reels, and Profile. The Home tab will show you your main feed of posts from accounts you follow. The Explore tab will help you discover new content based on your interests and preferences. The Reels tab will showcase short-form videos from creators around the world. And the Profile tab will let you access your own account settings, stories, posts, reels, guides, and more.
With Reels on Instagram, you can create short, impressive, and addictive videos of 15-30 seconds in length.
But what happened to the Shop tab and the Create post button that used to be on the navigation bar? Well, Instagram decided to remove them and move them elsewhere on the app. According to Instagram’s blog post, “With more people creating and watching short entertaining videos on Instagram than ever before we want to make it easier for people to access this content.” That’s why they moved the Reels tab to the center spot on the navigation bar, replacing the Shop tab.
The Shop tab was introduced in November 2020 as a way to make it easier for users to discover and buy products from their favorite brands and creators on Instagram. However, it seems that Instagram realized that shopping was not a priority for most of its users when they opened the app. Instead, they wanted to see more engaging content like reels.
That doesn’t mean that shopping is gone from Instagram altogether. You can still access it by tapping on a shopping bag icon at the top right corner of your home screen or by swiping left on your main feed. You can also find shoppable posts with product tags throughout your feed and explore page.
As for creating a new post, you can do that by tapping on a plus sign icon at the bottom left corner of your home screen or by swiping right on your main feed. You can also create stories by tapping on your profile picture at the top left corner of your home screen or by swiping right from anywhere on the app.
The redesign of Instagram’s home screen navigation bar is part of its ongoing effort to adapt to changing user behavior and preferences. By giving more prominence to reels, Instagram hopes to compete with other short-form video platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts. By moving shopping and creating posts to secondary locations, Instagram hopes to streamline its user experience and focus on its core features.
What do you think of these changes? Do you like them or not? Let us know in the comments below!
Windows Phone was a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft as a successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. It featured a new user interface based on the Metro design language, which aimed to offer a simple and intuitive experience for smartphone users. Windows Phone was launched in October 2010 with much fanfare and optimism, but it failed to gain significant market share and popularity among consumers and developers. In December 2019, Microsoft officially discontinued the support and production of Windows Phone devices. But what were the reasons behind this spectacular failure?
One of the main reasons was the lack of apps. Windows Phone had a very small app store compared to its rivals Android and iOS, which offered millions of apps for various needs and preferences. Many popular apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, etc. were either missing or poorly updated on Windows Phone. This made it hard for users to enjoy their favorite services and content on their devices. Moreover, developers were reluctant to invest time and money into creating apps for Windows Phone because of its low user base and revenue potential
Another reason was the lack of innovation. Windows Phone had some unique features such as Live Tiles, Cortana, Continuum, etc., but they were not enough to attract users who were already used to Android and iOS ecosystems. Microsoft also failed to keep up with the latest trends and technologies in the smartphone market such as dual cameras, fingerprint scanners, wireless charging, etc., which made its devices look outdated and inferior compared to its competitors.
A third reason was the lack of marketing. Microsoft did not do enough to promote its products and brand awareness among consumers. It relied too much on its loyal fans and partners such as Nokia (which it acquired in 2014) to spread the word about Windows Phone. However, this strategy did not work well because most people were unaware or indifferent about Windows Phone’s existence and benefits.
In conclusion, Windows Phone was a bold attempt by Microsoft to challenge the dominance of Android and iOS in the smartphone market but it failed miserably due to various factors such as lack of apps, innovation, and marketing . Although Microsoft has officially discontinued Windows Phone, it has not given up on mobile entirely. It still offers some services such as Office, OneDrive, Skype, etc., on other platforms and is working on new projects such as Surface Duo and Windows 10X that could potentially revive its mobile ambitions in the future.
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Facebook will remove the Instagram app for Windows Phone from the store. Actually, it’s being pulled out totally from your device.
Photo sharing app Instagram will become defunct for still active Windows 10 Mobile users like myself. Facebook has started telling users about this through notifications in the application.
Facebook says “Starting April 30, the Instagram for Windows Phone app will no longer be available. You’ll still be able to log into Instagram using your mobile browser. ”
As mentioned, Facebook says you can use the web browser as an alternative. I tried this but the experience isn’t whole. I don’t know yet if the mobile experience would have been improved by then. The Instagram for Windows 10 app will still exist and be supported, but not the mobile app. Where does this leave you as a windows 10 mobile user? Well Maybe turn to 3rd party apps? But will using a 3rd party app allow you to use a Facebook post template so you can create your Facebook posts in a few minutes?
What options are available to you and what will you do to keep using the social media platform? Share your options with us.
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