Back in April, Instagram added video channels to the Explore tab to help you find cool new clips to watch and interesting people to follow. Today, the app makes those suggestions even more customized by organizing videos into specific categories, and recommending certain ones to you based on your Instagram activity.
When you head to the Explore tab in the app, now you'll start seeing “Picked for You” channels. These cover a wide variety of topics: special effects makeup, hair tutorials, gymnasts, huskies, cookies, baking, and comedians are but a few of the options you could see in your app. There's also an "Oddly Satisfying" category for rounding up all those weirdly hypnotic videos you can't help but watch over and over again. You'll get served up (hopefully) relevant topics based on the kinds of Instagram posts you tend to watch and Like.
And starting next month, Instagram will also make it easier to understand what international users are saying with an in-app translation tool. While it won't be able to translate the text or words spoken in a video, at least you'll be able to understand what the caption says.
Instagram says video use is up 150% over the last few months, so clearly we're posting a lot more videos than we used to — and watching them, too.
But with that video watching comes responsibility. Friendly PSA: Don't Instagram and drive. Most fatal car crashes these days involve someone who's on a cell phone, and hashtags such as #DrivingSelfie and #HopeIDontCrash are on the rise, according to a study by Auto Insurance Center. Watching video while you're driving is a terrible idea, and whipping out your phone to record driver's-eye scenery isn't any better. Besides, it makes more sense to watch that new hair-braiding channel when you're back at home, anyway.
Instagram's latest app update is rolling out today.
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