It was reported a few months ago that Instagram was testing out Creator Accounts. Well, looks like it’s time to take it up a notch. Hashtag inventor, Chris Messina recently posted a tweet where he mentioned that he was invited by Instagram to try out the new Creator Account.
This is a strong implication that the media sharing service is interested in publicly testing out the new feature and observing the users’ reaction, before rolling it out to global users.
It looks like Messina had a good time using the new feature. According to the screenshots shared by him, the Account includes the three options (Flexible Profile Controls, Simplified Messaging and More Growth Tool) as spotted before by Jane Manchun Wong. In addition to that, the user can also choose whether to hide their contact details and category or put them on display. The purpose of category is to describe what kind of creator a user is and what they do. There are several different categories such as Actor, Blogger, Graphic Designer, Video Creator, Writer and Entrepreneur etc.
Messina was impressed with the new inbox design. He mentioned that there is a follower count on the message requests. This will help in differentiating influential users’ message requests from non-influential ones'.
Although it looks like the feature has everything a creator needs in their account, Digital Strategist, Robert Michael Murray suggests that more crucial tools can be added to make these accounts more helpful. He believes there should be some mechanism to filter through thousands of comments and discard comments based on quality, abuse, length etc. Murray believes that giving creators control over what content they are presented with can result in them engaging more with authentic fans. He also suggested a feature that can help creators in identifying the fans who try to engage more with them through frequent comments etc. (Similar to the Top Fan and other badges recently introduced by Facebook).
On the other hand, in a Reddit thread, several users are sharing their concerns about the Facebook-owned app, for example a user named Rez445 said that "They keep making it harder for small [Instagram] profiles to grow and on the other hand they're complaining about people using bots." Other users are also complaining about follow/unfollow army that ruined the Instagram's "enjoyment factor".
Thus, there is a lot Instagram has to work on but from the initial tests, the Creator Accounts look quite fascinating and it’s about time they are rolled out globally.
Read next: Instagram Will Soon Let You Direct Message With Stickers
This is a strong implication that the media sharing service is interested in publicly testing out the new feature and observing the users’ reaction, before rolling it out to global users.
It looks like Messina had a good time using the new feature. According to the screenshots shared by him, the Account includes the three options (Flexible Profile Controls, Simplified Messaging and More Growth Tool) as spotted before by Jane Manchun Wong. In addition to that, the user can also choose whether to hide their contact details and category or put them on display. The purpose of category is to describe what kind of creator a user is and what they do. There are several different categories such as Actor, Blogger, Graphic Designer, Video Creator, Writer and Entrepreneur etc.
Just got invited to add creator tools to my @instagram account, including a new inbox design.— Chris Messina 🏴☠️ (@chrismessina) April 19, 2019
/cc @wongmjane @MattNavarra #ConvComm pic.twitter.com/44BhcJQha7
Messina was impressed with the new inbox design. He mentioned that there is a follower count on the message requests. This will help in differentiating influential users’ message requests from non-influential ones'.
— Chris Messina 🏴☠️ (@chrismessina) April 19, 2019
Although it looks like the feature has everything a creator needs in their account, Digital Strategist, Robert Michael Murray suggests that more crucial tools can be added to make these accounts more helpful. He believes there should be some mechanism to filter through thousands of comments and discard comments based on quality, abuse, length etc. Murray believes that giving creators control over what content they are presented with can result in them engaging more with authentic fans. He also suggested a feature that can help creators in identifying the fans who try to engage more with them through frequent comments etc. (Similar to the Top Fan and other badges recently introduced by Facebook).
On the other hand, in a Reddit thread, several users are sharing their concerns about the Facebook-owned app, for example a user named Rez445 said that "They keep making it harder for small [Instagram] profiles to grow and on the other hand they're complaining about people using bots." Other users are also complaining about follow/unfollow army that ruined the Instagram's "enjoyment factor".
Thus, there is a lot Instagram has to work on but from the initial tests, the Creator Accounts look quite fascinating and it’s about time they are rolled out globally.
Read next: Instagram Will Soon Let You Direct Message With Stickers
