Instagram rolled out three new user safety features on December 6, 2016. The new features which have been added are the ability to turn off the commenting, to remove followers from the private accounts and to report posts which hints at the intention of self-injury without revealing the identity.
With the announcement, the first steps of an ongoing commitment to user safety have been marked. The Co-founder and CEO, Kevin Systrom provided details about the new option in a blog post. He also declared that in upcoming weeks the photo and video sharing network will add the new ability for users to tap on adjacent heart icon to like the comments.
Here are the details which were presented on the new comment control feature: “Comments are where the majority of conversation happens on Instagram. While comments are largely positive, they’re not always kind or welcome. Previously, we launched the ability to filter comments based on keywords. This was an important step in giving you more control over your comments experience. However, there are two more features we think will improve this experience.”
The new feature for private accounts was also discussed by him, “Some people on Instagram choose to have private accounts, which means that they approve each follower. This is an important way for people to feel comfortable sharing with close friends and family. In the past, once you approved a follower, there was no simple way to undo that decision without blocking them. Going forward, if your account is private, you can remove followers by going to your list of followers and tapping the … menu next to any person’s name. The person will not be notified that you removed them as a follower.”
Systrom also highlighted the details on self-injury post reporting option by stating, “Finally, we want to continue to be a place where people can share deeply personal moments. From time to time, you may see friends struggling and in need of support. If you believe that someone you care about may be thinking about injuring themselves, you can report it anonymously, and we will connect your friend to organizations that offer help. We have teams working 24 hours per day, seven days per week around the world to review these reports.”
The newly introduced tools will help the platform to reduce cyberbullying by making it safer than before. And all the users will soon have access to these features.
