Instagram is making an attempt to make it less demanding to discover and add people you know, and it's swinging to a feature initially used by Snapchat.
The application is adding another "Nametag" feature, which is basically the Instagram form of Snapchat's Snap Codes. This latest feature is taking off now to Instagram's iOS and Android application with the latest update.
You can discover your nametag by clicking on the side menu at the upper right corner of your profile. Each nametag shows your username, and you can alter it with selfies, stickers, and emoticon. Scanning another Instagram user's nametag sends a follow request to their profile.
Rather than approaching people for their Instagram handle, which may feel rather clumsy, people can share and scan each other's nametag.
It also makes advertising and marketing a profile easier as the nametag can now be put up and displayed easily on various social platforms and media, including print, so nobody will have to hunt for a profile around.
In addition to nametags, Instagram uncovered more about its tests of another "school communities" feature, which makes it less demanding for college users to locate one another. The feature, which was first seen in August, gives you a chance to add your school and graduation year to your profile, and also organizations that you are a part of.
After you've added a school, your profile will be added to the catalogue where different students can see people's profiles by class year. The feature, as of yet, is available at schools "over the U.S." with plans to expand later on.
The idea, however, is strikingly like the college based "networks" from Facebook's initial days, when it was just limited to college students, before going live globally.
This feature which is highlighted as a "back to school" update, Instagram is unmistakably using school networks to get more users and have them follow each other, making the discovery aspect of the social network much more manageable.
The "back to school" update makes social events like school reunions much easier and social. For now, people from the same graduation year will have the capacity to add each other and share pictures, tag each other, and such.
