Instagram – Basic Terminologies

Terms Meaning
Profile This is your account information on Instagram. Your profile consists of your name, username, profile photo, and
your photo gallery.
Post The photos and videos you share on Instagram are called posts.
Like Instagram (like many other social networks) is based on receiving likes, and liking other users’ photos. You can
‘like’ an image by double tapping the image itself, or by clicking the ‘like’ button to the bottom left of the image.

Username Often referred to as your ‘handle’, your username is the name of your account which people will type to find
you, and which is also the address to view your profile online.

Follower A follower is a user who follows your account, and consequently sees every photo you publish on their feed. The
more followers you have, the larger your audience.
Feed/ Gallery/ A user’s collection of photos (posted to their profile) is referred as their ‘feed,’ ‘gallery’ or even ‘album.’
Album
Bio The ‘bio’ section (the area below your ‘name’ on your profile) is an area designated to writing a small
description about yourself, or about your brand.
 Terms Meaning
Filters Filters give users the opportunity to automatically enhance their photos and even add frames to them. Currently,
Instagram gives users 20 filters to choose from. You can apply a filter to give your photos a unique or artistic
look.
Hashtag A word becomes an active ‘hashtag’ when it has the symbol ‘#’ before it – and will appear in blue. For
example: #ink361 . It allows users to connect with others, and discover images based on a common word or
phrase.
A hashtag can create trends, and is often also used by marketers or event organisers to build a collection of
images under a specific hashtag. Anyone searching the hashtagged subject will be able to see your post if you use
a hashtag.
Tag Tagging is using keywords, hashtags, or social media names to let a person, subject, or idea know that you're
talking about them, with them, or to them. If you want your post to show up on another user's feed, you write
their social media name with an @ symbol ahead of it so they become "tagged".

Caption The caption provides an opportunity to link photos to their relevant subject matters.

News feed Accessed by the ‘home’ button on the Instagram app, this shows a feed of the images from those you follow as
they are uploaded, and so appears in chronological order.
Personal ‘Activity’ Your ‘activity’ tab will show you: when a user likes or comments on one of your photos; when a user mentions
Feed your username in a comment; when your photo is posted to the popular page and when you are tagged in a photo
by another user.
 Terms Meaning
Following’ Activity This shows a feed of photos that people you are following have liked or commented, and also accounts they have
Feed started following.
Instagram Live Instagram live is a video feature that allows you to broadcast live to your followers. Followers will only be able to
watch the video in real time, and there is no replay option.
Instagram Story A story is a short, no more than 15 second post that is visible for 24 hours on your page. You can create multiple
stories a day. Using the story feature is a great alternative to constantly uploading pictures to the site.

Instagram Highlights are stories or Instagram lives that you can highlight on your profile, even after they disappear on
Highlights stories. Highlights appear below your bio.

Instagram ‘Direct’ This feature allows you to send to a photo to single user, or a group – privately.This image doesn’t appear on the
news feed, search results or on any users’ profile.
Private VS Public The essential difference is that public profiles can be viewed and followed by any user. Private profiles, on the
Profile other hand, require acceptance after a request is sent to follow.
Geotag A ‘geotag’ is the location attached to an image. A list of local locations appear based on your position as
determined by your device’s location services.