Instagram May Soon Let You Add Hashtags Without Showing Them In The Post

Photo: Jane Manchun Wong

One of the biggest debates involving Instagram is whether it's better to add hashtags to the caption of a post or in the comment section for discoverability. If you're someone like myself who uses hashtags quite often, you soon may no longer need to worry about where you’re placing them.

Instagram is testing the ability to add hashtags to posts without including it in the post caption pic.twitter.com/OhQn0xcCuw

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) September 20, 2018

According to Jane Manchun Wong, who is often ahead of everyone when it comes to discovering new potential Instagram features, recently shared screenshots indicating that the photo/video sharing app may be testing a feature that allows users to add hashtags without them showing.

From the screenshots shared, it looks like users will be able to add hashtags by clicking on an "Add Hashtags" button, typing out the desired hashtags, and then selecting them. When the post is shared, the hashtags will be hidden but the post will still be discoverable by the specific hashtags used. Additionally, there seems to be no limit on how many hashtags can be added.

If Instagram does decide to officially launch this feature, it will be great news for content creators. Hashtags are an excellent way to get more exposure for posts, but when a user adds a boatload of hashtags to their caption or in the comment section, it can be quite distracting. This feature would help make the caption and the comment section cleaner and less hectic. It also likely would encourage more users to add hashtags. Plenty of people know the value of hashtags when it comes to getting their posts in front of a bigger audience but many are against using them because they think it comes off as “annoying” or “desperate for likes.”

In other Instagram news, the photo/video sharing platform recently launched two new Shopping features.

SOURCE: Jane Manchun Wong