Instagram testing new feature to inform users about outages via the app itself

After the massive Instagram outage last week, Facebook-owned photos and videos sharing application Instagram is testing a new feature that will inform users about an outage on the application itself. In an official blog post, Instagram says that the new feature will be tested in the United States for a few months before being rolled out globally. The feature will also inform users about issues that were resolved by the technical team in recent times. 

The platform is also planning to introduce a new feature that will help users to know when their account is on the verge of being disabled. In the official blog post, Instagram says that it is about to add a new tool called Account Status which will help users to know about everything that is happening with their account, and the content they post online. In future, the feature will be able to inform users about how their content is being distributed, recommended and viewed across different products on Instagram. 

Instagram to introduce new features towards well being of teenagers 

Most recently, Instagram is also making efforts to make their social media platform a safer place for children, including teenagers, by introducing a new feature called Take a Break. The new feature will ask the user to take breaks while using Instagram and remind if the user is looking at content that is not good for their well being. Facebook is also planning to launch new parental control options on Instagram which will allow teenagers parents to monitor their children's activity online. 

The development comes after Instgram scrapped their plans for developing a dedicated version of their application for kids called Instagram Kids. In an official blog post, Instagram said, "We firmly believe that it's better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them - where parents can supervise and guide their experience - than relying on an app's ability to verify the age of kids who are too young to have an ID." Moving forward, Instagram will introduce parental control features to the application.  

Being owned by Facebook, Instagram is currently facing an accusation of being harmful to teen girls by the former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen. Following the public hearings and Haugen's claims, Facebook is ready to meet with her in the coming weeks to know more about the concerns. Another messaging application owned by Facebook, WhatsApp is also working to improve user experience by introducing new features.