Instagram is introducing the world to three new controls meant to help stop bullying on the platform. Announced via the company’s official blog, the first new feature is explicitly geared at making it easier to get rid of negative comments. But Instagram also wants to help users highlight particularly positive interactions. That’s atop a new control that will help stop bullying before it even starts.
The first of the new measures, as hinted above, is a new method for deleting multiple comments at once. The goal, according to Instagram, is to make it easier to manage negative comments and keep positivity up. And it’s enabling the feature on iOS now. Users just need to tap on a comment and then the dotted menu icon. Selecting „Manage Comments” will then let users select and then delete up to 25 comments at once.
There’s no word as to when that will arrive on Android but both platforms can still block and restrict accounts. That’s also accomplished via the dotted menu icon. Users simply need to select „More Options” on iOS or „Block or Restrict” on Android.
Of course, users can’t control what others choose to put on Instagram. But now they will be able to take some control over whether or not they need to be part of it. That’s because, like prior updates, Instagram is adding new controls that let users manage who can either tag or mention them on the platform.
Users can select to let everybody, only people who are followed, or nobody at all on that front. Conversely, they can also choose to manually approve tags. The blocking mechanism meant to prevent call-outs applies to comments, captions, and Stories. And those are rolling out now.
To help stop bullying, Instagram controls let users highlight positive comments too
The third prong of the newly announced attack against Instagram bullying doesn’t center on controls but on a more positive angle. Namely, it lets users choose to highlight positive or otherwise favorable comments by pinning them to the top of the comments thread.
Instagram says that Pinned Comments will help to 'set the tone’ for a given account. That means it could serve as an effective way to 'encourage positive interactions’.
Now, the Pinned Comments feature isn’t going to appear right away. Instead, the company says it will „begin testing” of the feature „soon.” That doesn’t provide much insight. Especially with regard to when the feature can be expected. But it does ensure that users are aware of the incoming change to help ward off bullying and promote positive behavior.
These changes won’t arrive fast for everybody but should be impactful
As noted above, the latest features — even those rolling now — aren’t arriving for everyone. At least not all at once. Others are still undergoing testing or will soon be undergoing testing.
They will undoubtedly be helpful for users all the same. That’s especially true since this is a multi-pronged approach stacking atop other measures Instagram has already taken. All of that should help this app stand apart from others when it comes to putting an end to online bullying on the platform.
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Source: ndroidheadlines.com