Instagram Tests Letting You Follow Hashtags Instead of People

DooKey

DooKey

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Instagram is allowing limited testing on following hashtags instead of people. I suppose this might be a good thing for Instagram users, but since I'm not a user I can't opine on that. Let me know what you think. Is it going to be a useful thing if it goes into widespread use?

So far the feature has only shown up briefly for one of TNW’s team members, so it appears to be a limited test for now. Instagram declined sharing more information when we reached out for comment, but experimental features often end up rolling out widely. This one seems like a particularly useful one, so I imagine it’s only a matter of time.
 
I guess if you like constant spam from random people it will be great! Downtown sound too appealing for me.
 
I like the idea, but its likely ripe for abuse if not implemented very carefully. Especially with a controversial or quickly emerging tag related to recent events or something like that. How to you regulate the stream when there's 10 million people hash tagging the same thing? You have to use some other factor to determine what shows. Perhaps first prioritize people you follow, then perhaps public figures? Maybe, ultimately let it filter through some sort of peer review process similar to slashdot that starts with a posters followers and propagates out. I dunno, just a few thoughts off the top of my head. Without some sort of filter its going to be chaos trying to keep up with it.
 
257Tony said:
I guess if you like constant spam from random people it will be great! Downtown sound too appealing for me.
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Actually it makes a lot of sense. If you're interested in a band, #bandName is a lot better than following @bandname. Interested in pictures of otters, #otter has you covered. Obviously it can be abused, but presumably there will be a mechanism to report abusers.
 
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