As a result of two major outages last week, Instagram is taking steps to provide better insights into continuing interruptions and technical issues, while also attempting to add more transparency to account-based actions, such as Community Standards violations and content removals, right in the app.
To begin, Instagram is experimenting with a new alert type that will let users know when there are technical issues with the app and how they relate to specific features. The company says it will test new notifications when key components of Instagram aren’t working.
As a result, this might be helpful. For the time being, most Instagram users are turning to Twitter to find out what’s going on when the service goes down, and that strategy may work well for some. However, it would be great if the information came directly from the app, giving it more credibility and a closer relationship with Instagram users.
As a result of this system’s dependence on Instagram, the app would not have been able to send notifications last week when the app was completely down for more than six hours. Obviously, these notifications won’t help if users can’t connect to the app at all. However, major outages are rare, and particular app features like Stories are the most commonly affected, as seen in this sample notification below.
Before taking any further action, Instagram will put the new alerts to the test with US users.
Another Instagram-related update is its introduction of “Account Status,” which will let you know if your posts have been flagged for possible content violations or other problems before they go live.
The goal of the initiative is to give users a greater understanding of the effects of content or distribution on post-performance, while also putting an end to rumours about ‘shadow banning’ or other restrictions.
Users that break the platform’s rules will have their Account Status displayed, as seen above, but you may also access the overview at any moment by changing your preferences.
More information on platform rules and practices, as well as the Instagram appeals process, will be available from the overview page if you believe you’ve been penalised unfairly.
Instagram users have repeatedly asked why their account has been penalised and what they can do to fix it, prompting the company to make these modifications. Every week, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri hosts a Q&A session via his Stories in which he answers questions regarding this feature, and every Instagram announcement post is inundated with questions about individual accounts and requests for assistance.
These new features may assist increase transparency and help people better understand what’s going on, but I doubt they’ll have much of an impact in most circumstances.
