Instagram Hits 800 Million, Launches New Controls for Safety and Filtering

Instagram just recently announced that they have grown past 800 million users with 500 million people using the popular social media app every day. This week the company updated the app's ability to take more control of the commenting on your posts. In the June update, Instagram created a filter to block offensive comments in English, and that filter has just been expanded to include the languages of Arabic, French, German, and Portuguese. Instagram is in the process of improving the filter over time to allow the general experience of sharing to improve simultaneously.

With the update this week, Instagram has created a new way for users to monitor and curate comments on their posts. This tool is available for both public and private accounts. Along with the filter that blocks offensive comments, this tool now allows you to pick and choose who gets to comment on your posts. Right now this tool has a blanket effect, meaning the settings apply to all your posts instead of just one. You still have the ability to turn off commenting completely for individual posts under the control tab on each post. If you don't want to have to block people but you have accounts that are causing problems with commenting, this new tool makes it easy to solve that issue.

Instagram is also making advancements for providing resources to individuals with mental health needs. If you run across a live broadcast where someone is going through a rough time or is need of support, then you can report that anonymously. The person will then receive a message offering methods of talking to a helpline, connecting to friends for help, or receive other tips and support. Instagram now staffs teams of operators working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, around the globe to be able to respond to situations like this. 

Instagram has made it clear that they feel quite strongly about helping create a safe and welcoming environment for all of their users, a mission that has been in place since the company first started. Innovations like these show some pretty impressive commitment to their users and really harnesses some of the best parts of modern day technology. I look forward to what they roll out next. What are your thoughts concerning these new updates? Make sure to comment below and let us know.

[Via Instagram]