Instagram launches photo albums, sadly
Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and thought to yourself, "This is nice, but it'd be better with even more selfies/vacation/baby/dog photos squeezed into the same amount of space"? No? Well, too bad because Instagram is set on giving you exactly that.
The app formally introduced a new feature that allows users to attach up to 10 photos and videos to a single post. In other words: you can turn individual posts into photo albums.
First spotted in the beta version of the app earlier this month, the feature is rolling out now and will be live in all countries over the next couple weeks.
Uploading an album works much the same way as any other photo or video post only now you can select multiple photos and videos by tapping a new "select multiple" icon from the upload screen.
Once you've picked the photos and clips you want to include, you can edit and add filters to each image, though the company is only allowing square-cropped photos in albums for now. You can also rearrange the order the photos and videos will appear by holding down and dragging.
After you post an album, your followers and others can view the posts by swiping across, carousel-style, just like they would on Facebook (Facebook owns Instagram).
In addition, Instagram is upping the number of photos and videos that can appear in one of its "carousel ads" so advertisers can also take advantage of the new format.
Like so many recent Instagram updates, the move is likely to controversial. Instagram purists have already criticized the feature as one that could ruin the app. As Mashable Tech Editor Pete Pachal summed it up, "albums are destined to turn Instagram into a place where tedious photo sets from vacations, bar mitzvahs and holiday parties are interspersed with the images users actually want to see."
As with so many other Instagram updates, it's all about engagement.
But the company likely has its own reason for adding the feature other than its stated (and extremely vague) motivation of making it "easier to share your experiences with your friends." Again, as with so many other Instagram updates, it's all about engagement.
As the company has pared down the number of posts that appear in feeds with its new algorithm, adding photo albums into the mix gives the company a new way to encourage users to spend more time in the app without actually increasing the number of posts you see at any given time. It also stands to boost to engagement metrics like time spent and the number of photos being shared in the app, stats that hadn't been that great prior to the advent of Stories.
Speaking of Stories, if Instagram's success with the once-mocked feature is any indication, the app's albums will likely prove to be a hit as well, despite the expected backlash.
In any case, Instagram's 400 million daily active users should get ready for a more crowded feed.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
