How do the new creator accounts stack up against Instagram’s business profiles?
Facebook and Instagram have been working hard to make sure that influencers can get the most out of their social media profiles. The company recognized that the business profiles alone may not have been the end-all option for those using Instagram for business. The business profiles are a relatively new addition to the social network. The profiles currently cater toward businesses, both brick and mortar and e-commerce, that are looking to maximize the app to reach potential customers.
Business profiles currently have a few differences from individual profiles. For example, business profiles let social media managers do things like filter direct messages, add link buttons in your profile, and highlight other important information like addresses and website information. With individual profiles, however, users are limited to what they can do in terms of promoting a business or organization. Instagram noticed that this left out a pretty big gap, one that represents a multi-million dollar per year industry; influencer marketing.
Creator Accounts
Instagram recognized that the need for more specialized profiles that would cater to influencers and creators was there. Just a few weeks ago the app started testing new “creator accounts” for its most high profile influencers and celebrities. Creator accounts come with a bunch of new features. These features, like filtering direct messages or in-app analytics, will help creators monitor their reach in real time.
Some of the many features in the new creator accounts include things like being able to track follows and unfollows. It will also help influencers filter their direct messages to sort by read and unread, as well as things like relevancy and send date. These changes are purely on the account-holder side, though. Instagram says that end-users will not be able to see the changes made to creator accounts.
Other New Updates
Aside from the creator accounts, Instagram has been working hard to implement new changes to its platform in recent weeks. Users noticed that the app developer rolled out horizontal scrolling this week. The update was quickly revoked, as users began complaining in droves on other social media networks like Twitter.
The update switched the timeline to scroll from left to right, instead of from up to down. The horizontal timeline was one of the biggest changes ever made on the app, but it wasn’t taken well. The internet started discussing rumors about such a change back in November, but no one really thought they would go through with it. Fortunately, our timelines are going to be vertical for the time being.
The change didn’t impact every single user, though. As with just about any update, the feature was tested randomly with some users. Many users reported seeing the change this week, while others reported business as usual. Hopefully Instagram doesn’t make too many drastic changes, because well all know what happens when app developers get ahead of themselves (ahem, RIP Snapchat).
