It seems every few weeks Instagram has a new feature.  It also seems like each new feature steals the thunder from another competitor App and makes you want to spend all of your time on the platform.Okay let me get straight into the list:

1. See More Feature on Stories

   

If you follow any verified accounts, you may have noticed that they have started saying "Swipe up to See More."  This sends you directly to the product or service they are talking about in the teaser post.This is a great feature for bloggers and businesses alike, because now they won't have to shorten links and update their bio every time they have something new they want to send their followers to.

2. Ability to Shop Products on Instagram Ads

Instagram ads is nothing new, but the ability to shop within the ad is HUGE!  This in theory should reduce the bounce rate of that online shop and especially for that item.  No more scrolling comments and clicking links to find that perfect pair of shoes your favorite brand just rolled out in their latest post.

3. Selfie Filters - What is Snapchat?

One of the many reasons people love Snapchat is because of the Selfie Filters.  They are so cute and fun for family, friends and coworkers to use alike.Instagram rolled out some selfie filters for Instagram stories a few weeks ago, but I don't think they are quite up to par to truly compete with Snapchat's yet.When I put one of the princess filters on my daughter and I it did not cover our head completely.  They are in such a rush to release things that at times it seems they miss out on these crucial details.

4. Collections on the Save Feature - Robbing from Pinterest

Pinterest is the sweet place where women and men add their favorite pictures and blog posts from around the web onto Pin Boards.  These boards usually have a theme like fashion with fashion and blogging tips with blogging tips.Instagram rolled out the Save feature a few months ago.  This feature lets you save posts that you want to view later whether to purchase the actual product featured or just admire.With the collection feature you will now be able to discover, curate and organize content directly on Instagram without anyone knowing.  You can now group like posts together into your own collections without anyone seeing what you saved.Pinterest has secret boards, but with most of their user's favorite brands and blogs having extremely active Instagram accounts and with Instagram rolling out this secret feature why would they want to use Pinterest anymore?

5. New Eraser Brush

Don't you just love a box with text scribbled on it to reveal another picture underneath?  Now, you can make your very own photo are with the New Eraser Brush.

6. Hashtag Stories

Snapchat rolled out a similar feature a few weeks ago where if you included a hashtag in your photo it would be shared to the larger Snapchat story just about that topic.  On Snapchat you did have to choose Our Story in addition to My story when uploading it.Instagram added this feature about a week ago.  If your account is public and you add a hashtag to your story post it will appear in the story for that topic.  For example, on my beauty Instagram I said #glow.  It appeared in the #glow story.  It was exciting and horrifying at the same time.  Instagram has all walks of life so I wasn't sure if my beauty post would appear next to some risque.

7. Location Stories

Snapchat also rolled out a similar feature the same time that they rolled out the hashtags stories.  I'm not quite sure if it is based on Geofilters or not, but I saw one for a mall in my town.  The Avenues Mall had it's very own story with a variety of posts.  It's kind of fun to see different people's perspectives of the exact same place.Instagram rolled out this feature about a week ago.  If your account is public and you add a story in a certain geographic radius or go to a landmark with this capability your story post should show up on the main story for that location.What do you think of the new features?Best,EricaInstagram: instagram.com/ericaravon and instagram.com/epartnersstudioSnapchat: @ericaravonFacebook: facebook.com/epartnersstudio