New technology is continually evolving. Taking a look at gizmos and gadgets that peek our interest and make our jobs as photojournalists a little easier and fun. For the first in the series, read Feather tech talk, No. 1.

With 500 million users worldwide utilizing the updated features of Instagram daily, the app provides even more ways to connect via social media, April 5.

As of January 2019, according to Statista, there are 120 million monthly users in United States. In total there are approximately 1 billion monthly users worldwide. With so many users, it is helpful to know some of the tips and tricks of the popular social media app.

The Feather utilizes Instagram to promote articles, share school and community events, cover sports and ultimately inform students. Some of the ways that is accomplished is through the various features offered.

Feed:

One feature being, the feed itself, with display options including collages, albums and single images. It’s important to keep a visually interesting feed with a mixture of collages, albums and singles to keep the reader intrigued.

Editing:

Filters and editing options are built into the app. These benefits are all dependent on personal preferences, but over the years, The Feather has learned a few tricks. Black and white filters are beneficial to make an image stand out and seem of importance.

It is also beneficial to lighten an image with the brightening option, and kick of  vibrance a few notches. Finally, by adding a touch of the clarity edit elevates the image a bit. Editing inside the app, it allows process time between download and publish on social media. For instance, if an image is a touch dark, Instagram allows you to brighten it.

Instagram story:

A hack for Instagram stories, if you are desiring a solid color background, is to choose a color and hold down. After you hold down for a few seconds you will turn the whole image the desired color.

Due to the fact that stories expire after 24 hours, accounts can now highlight story posts.

In order to engage the reader, the several interactive elements available on Instagram story are a creative outlet to do so. Story stickers include poll, countdown, questions, music, gifs and like-meter. All of these are sources to engage the viewer.

Instagram live story is an alternative to traditional stories. Live allows viewers to feel like they are truly at an event if they couldn’t physically attend. It us just another source to engage with the viewer.

New ways to interact:

IGTV is fairly new to the Instagram world. On June 20, 2018, a little less than a year ago, this feature became available. As an online newspaper, this feature is valuable to post our full-length videos on our Instagram page.

Recently, Instagram introduced several new features including music stickers on story and question stickers in live.

According to Hootsuite blog, 22% of all Instagram users log in at least once a day and 38% of users check Instagram multiple times a day. With so many people visiting Instagram everyday it is valuable to utilize the features available as best as possible.

Do you like this new app series in addition to the Tech Talk series? Check back in next week for a review of VSCO and tips and tricks of the app.

To read previous Tech Talks, check out, Feather tech talk, No. 1: Portable printer for phones, Feather tech talk, No. 2: Blue light filtering glasses, Feather tech talk, No. 3: Drones add new ways to cover media and Feather tech talk, No. 4: Go Pros.

For more Feather photos, visit media, photos 2018-19.