Have you ever tried to find something by searching Instagram?
It is, plainly, a nightmare.
Instead of being fed with actual search results, Instagram gives you accounts, places, and hashtags. So, for instance, if you want to see how someone styles a disco ball in their living room, you have to search for either a disco ball account, the location Disco Ball in Greece, or the hashtag #discoball.
Now, that’s finally changing. In a Wednesday blog post, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the platform will be “launching a series of improvements designed for inspiration and discovery” with regard to search on the app.
“We’re moving towards a full search results page experience that makes it even easier to go deep on your interests,” Mosseri said.
The new update will mean that when you search disco ball on Instagram you’ll also be shown disco ball-related photos, videos, and stories, instead of just hashtags, accounts, and locations. This is particularly helpful when you don’t know exactly what username or hashtag you want to see. The platform will also expand the keywords you can use to search. They’re starting in English and will expand to other languages in the future.
“We design all of our features to help you find the things you love,” Mosseri said. “We are constantly working on improvements to help you discover entertaining things to share with your friends, and we look forward to showing you more about how Instagram works in upcoming posts.”
