Everything you need to know about Instagram
If you’re interested in social media then you’ve most likely heard of Instagram. In case you haven’t, it’s a photo-based app that allows you to take and upload photos, apply a number of filters to the images as well as publish a caption with each photo. Excitingly, we have just created our very own Over60 account – so head over and follow us now.
As well as a great tool to share your photos and view those from others (just about every publication, celebrity and TV show has an account nowadays), Instagram is now even considered a news-breaking source of sorts as well as tool for businesses to share what they're doing.
You can download the mobile app on iOS and Android devices as well as Windows Phone 8 and above. Conveniently you can also view your Instagram posts from a computer or iPad once you've downloaded the Instagram mobile app and set up an account. Follow our guide to setting up your own account now.
Step-by-step guide to setting up an Instagram account:
Download the app
Go to www.instagram.com and use the link buttons to download the Instagram app. You can go straight to the app store but it is hard to find the correct Instagram app amongst all of the add-on Instagram-type apps out there.
For Apple you can either set up your account on your iPhone or iPad – the link will direct you to the App Store.
For Android the link will take you to the Google Play Store or for Windows Phone you need to go to the Windows Phone Store.
Create an account
Once the app is installed, tap to open it. To create an account you will either need to select “Register with Email” to or “Register with Facebook”. If you opt to register with email, create a username and password, fill out your profile info and then tap “Done”. If you’ve chosen the Facebook route, you'll be prompted to sign into your Facebook account if you're currently logged out.
Keep in mind that your username you select is what other people see – much like your Facebook name. This is how others can search for you – so you may want to choose something that your family and friends will recognise. However, Instagram does have an area in your profile in which you can input your name in addition to your username so that you’re account is more recognisable.
Edit your profile
Go to your profile by selecting the square icon button at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and then select “Edit Profile”. In here you can add a profile image, add your name, add a web address and a line about yourself.
To upload a profile pic, simply select the round image area and you can either take a photo or upload one.
Link to Facebook
You can link your Instagram posts to your Facebook account through your “Share Settings” so that your posts through Instagram post to your Facebook page. All you have to do is link your account and then each time you upload an image with Instagram you can select to post it to Facebook or not.
To link your Instagram with Facebook, simply go to your profile page, select the little sun-looking icon on the top right-hand corner of the page. Next scroll down to “Share Settings” and in this area you can choose to link multiple social media apps. Click on Facebook and it will ask for your login details to link the accounts.
Take a photo
The camera icon in the bar along the bottom of the Instagram screen allows you to take photos or share photos from your phone's library. Once you've taken a photo or selected one from your phone, there are a number of artsy effects or filters to choose from – you don’t have to use any at all, but they do make some photos look great. Once you’ve finished selecting any effects or filters, you select “Next” in the top right-hand corner and you will be taken to the next page where you can write a caption, add your location and select to publish the photo to your Facebook page as well. When you’re done you simply press share and you’re done.
Hashtags
A hashtag is a word with the “#” symbol used in front of it – for example: “These #flowers are beautiful”. This allows people to go through the search function on Instagram and view all posts where someone has written “#flowers” in the caption.
To add a hashtag you include it in your caption. After you tag your post with a hashtag, you'll also be able to tap on the hashtag to see a page that shows all photos and videos people have uploaded with that hashtag. There are many infamous hashtags around like #ALSicebucketchallenge or #nomakeupselfie. We also have an Over60 one now too – #Over60. So use it in your captions and we’ll repost interesting images on the Over60 Instagram account. We’ll have more information about hashtagging in an upcoming article.
Mentioning/tagging people
You can mention and tag your friends and family (actually anyone you follow) in your images. You can do this by adding their name (for example @oversixty.com.au) in your caption, which is called a “mention”, or by using the “Tag People” function that sits just below the caption area. When you mention or tag someone, they will get a notification.
Searching
To search for friends, family, celebrities or publications to follow, you select the compass icon along the menu at the bottom of the Instagram app and you simply type in a name and all the possible search results will come up. Providing it’s not a private account, you press on the name you want and select “Follow”. Once you’re following someone, you will see all of their photos as they upload them in your “Home” feed. To go to your home feed as scroll through all of the images, you simply press the home icon on the menu bar and you can look through the photos everyone you follow.
5 great Instagram accounts to follow:
In the coming weeks we'll publish more articles about Instagram, but if there's anything in particular you're having trouble with, let us know in the comments below and we'll try to address these things in coming weeks.