Instagram Rolls Out Pinned Comments Feature, Enabling Users To Highlight Positive Comments
Source: Instagram
Instagram recently rolled out a new feature in pinned comments. The feature enables users to pin up to three comments at a time to the top of their in-feed posts.
Vishal Shah, who is Instagram’s VP of Product, announced the feature on Twitter and revealed it’s designed to help users better control the tone of their conversations by highlighting positive comments.
Today we’re rolling out pinned comments everywhere 📌
— Vishal Shah (@vishalshahis) July 7, 2020
That means you can a pin a few comments to the top of your feed post. By highlighting positive comments, you can better manage the tone of the conversation. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/w2X5grdee7
Users can easily access the feature by going to the comments section of any of their in-feed posts and swiping left on the comment they want to pin. Once they do so, there will be a thumbtack icon, which will pin that specific comment once tapped. When a comment is pinned, the person who left that comment will get a notification, letting them know that their comment has been pinned.
Instagram started testing the feature back in May with select users as part of its initiative to combat cyberbullying. During this time, the platform also launched features that allow users to remove comments in bulk and control who can tag them in posts.
insights & Analysis:
As Instagram revealed, pinned comments were birthed to encourage a more favorable environment for users. By putting positive comments front and center, future comments will likely be of similar fashion. This is especially true for creators, who may be receiving an influx of negative or inappropriate comments on a specific post. Highlighting positive comments could help them bury or overshadow more negative ones.
Besides being an anti-cyberbullying tool, pinned comments can also be used creativity to:
Spotlight Testimonials: Brands/creators can pin comments from their audience and use them as a testimonial. For example, say a creator shares a sponsored post around a product, and one of their followers leaves a comment about how much they love that product. The creator could pin the comment, which essentially would function as a testimonial.
Provide Follow-Up Information: Creators can leave a comment on their own post and pin it so that it’s one of the first comments that their audience sees when they come across their post. This could be helpful for giveaways/contests, where creators typically circle back with information such as when a giveaway/contest has ended.
Encourage Additional Engagement: Brands/creators can further encourage engagement on their posts by asking a question and amplifying it by pinning it. Depending on the quality of the question, this could trigger another wave of engagement and expand the lifespan of the post.
Gamify Engagement: Pinned comments allow users to gamify engagement in a sense. Celebrities, influencers, or anyone else with a significant following can reward fans who leave thoughtful comments by pinning and spotlighting them for everyone to see. This could encourage users to go beyond hitting the ‘Like’ button and take the time to leave a meaningful comment and potentially be spotlighted by their favorite celebrity or influencer.
If you know of any other creative ways how pinned comments can be used, let me know!
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