Social media platform Instagram has launched 'Insta Gyaan' - an illustrated guide created especially for its users in India so they can make the most out of their Instagram experience. Since the second quarter of last year, the Facebook-owned platform has added many new features such as Stories and Live Video to stay ahead of its rival Snapchat. Insta Gyaan seeks to increase its user base in India by explaining its features.
Illustrated by Kaveri Gopalakrishnan, an independent comic maker from Bengaluru, Insta Gyaan talks about the best ways to use the social media platform; connect with peers effectively and help in discovering their passion in the social space. The guide also showcases the various tools available, so that they can make informed choices on how they want to use the platform.
The guide gives tips for users on the type of content they can create using the platform and highlights its features, from Boomerang and Mentions, to Live Videos and Stories. "Express yourself the best visually, strengthen your passions using insta strength. Upload the best of your photo and videos in Boomerang. Bring out the artist in you with creative tools and filters, captions, emojis and the best hashtags," the guide states.
The zine, as the guide is called, gives tips for users to create and manage business profiles, as well as how to manage the insights tools for small and big brands. "With the Business profile, you have an edge to understand your audience much better and reach out to them faster. With the new insights tool, companies of any size can be recognised with a business profile, get insights about followers and posts which you can then promote to drive," the guide states.
Another feature the guide highlights is how Instagram has tied up with NGOs, such as the Aasra Foundation and the Live Love Laugh Foundation, so users can get help for their friends or family who might be in distress. "We want to be a space where people can share their deeply personal moments. From time to time, you may see friends struggling or in need of support, but don't know how best to reach out. If you think someone you care about maybe thinking of injuring themselves. You can report it anonymously, and Instagram will connect your friend to organisations that offer help. They have teams deployed 24 hours a day and seven days a week."
Instagram has over 600 million monthly users on the platform. Its Stories feature, which was launched in August 2016, currently has 150 million daily users.
