The feature was announced in a blog post today. It expands on the Save button added back in December by letting you get more creative with saved posts. Currently, tapping the Save icon saves a post to a dedicated tab in your profile. Posts are displayed in a scrolling grid that can get lengthy if you frequently use the feature.
In response to the success of saved posts – Instagram says 46% of users have pressed the button at least once – the app is getting a new way to shorten the list and organise content. When you long-press the Save button, you’ll see the option to add the post to a collection. You can create, edit and rename collections by tapping the plus icon in the top-right corner.
Collections will show up at the top of the saved posts tab in your profile. They will remain private and cannot be seen by followers. This is the same approach already used for regular saved posts.
Instagram suggested the feature will help people keep track of things they want to do after browsing their feed. With the social network known for its wealth of travel and food imagery, users often want to take action on something later. By adding it to a collection, you can make sure you can find it again later on.
“Since we introduced the ability to save posts last December, 46 percent of Instagrammers have saved at least one post,” said Instagram. “Whether you want to plan your next day trip, revisit your favorite artists’ illustrations or always have some animal videos on hand, collections can help you keep track of the posts you want to remember.”
Collections allows Instagram to rival yet another successful social network. After having trampled over Snapchat with Stories, Collections now sees Instagram pitch its weight against Pinterest. Pinterest is built around the concept of bookmarking and saving content for later, building colourful boards of images to revisit in the future.
With Instagram already known for the travel ideas, recipe inspiration and fashion trend posts prevalent on Pinterest, there’s now obvious similarities between the two apps. It’s likely Instagram will further expand on the feature in the future, adding the option to make Collections public and transforming itself into a fully-fledged Pinterest clone.
Instagram is abandoning its original focus on pure photography, evolving into a trendy social-first platform that combines the key features of its rivals into one accessible platform. Collections continue on this by making it easier for people to use Instagram as a point of reference for their lives. According to the latest figures, the strategy’s paying off.
Collections are available from today in the Instagram app for iOS and Android. The update should be released for Windows 10 devices in a few weeks.
