Do you spend a lot of time on Instagram? Now there's a new way to discover posts and stories you might like: following hashtags.
When you visit a hashtag page like #technology or #ces2018, for instance, just tap the new "follow" button up top to start seeing top posts from that tag in your feed and some of the latest stories in your stories bar. If posts to a certain hashtag get overwhelming, you can easily unfollow it at any time.
Take note, though: If you have a public account, anyone who visits your profile will be able to see which hashtags you follow, just like they can scope out the people you follow. If your account is set to private, only your followers will be able to view the hashtags you follow. So, don't follow any super weird hashtags or your secret fetishes might become public knowledge.
"Community has been a core value at Instagram from the start, and at the heart of every community is a shared interest," Instagram said in a statement to PCMag. "Now we're making interests — and the communities that form around them — a major company focus. Following hashtags is our first step."
Meanwhile, Instagram's parent company Facebook today introduced a new feature for its Messenger app called World Effects, which is similar to Snapchat's World Lenses. The feature lets you add 3D objects to your surroundings and interact with them.
"People can show that they love something via a 3D heart or point at something via an arrow," Facebook explained in an email. There's also a "celebratory robot that plays three types of music, an on-trend unicorn, and fun word bubbles, like 'love,' 'bae,' 'heart,' and 'miss you.'"
To try out World Effects, just open the Messenger camera, scroll to choose from the camera effects, and tap one to add it to your image. Facebook said it's rolling out this feature globally, starting today.