Instagram has announced that it is testing notifications that will alert users whenever the platform is experiencing “temporary issues” which prevents them from using its features and services. Aptly enough, this new addition arrives a week after the major six-hour outage that disrupted all of Facebook’s ecosystem – including its own social media platform, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
Should a similar mishap occur, Instagram will push out a notification in the user’s Activity Feed to inform them of the issue. This is intended to not leave its users in the dark whenever a specific problem arises (ie: a technical issue with Story uploads), or something more widespread such as the aforementioned outage. These notifications would also spare the trouble of figuring out regarding in-platform/app issues by referring externally to support pages, forums, or other social media.
Instagram added that it won’t always send out a notification whenever, say, an outage occurs. However, it will reserve such instances whenever a situation would cause confusion among its users. Based on the samples provided via its blog, Instagram will also provide a notification to inform users whenever a certain issue has been resolved.
Apart from the new notifications, the platform also showed off a new Account Status section in its app. According to Instagram, this particular feature is intended to provide users with detailed explanations on why their posts have been flagged or removed, especially when identified as violating the platform’s rules or policies. Additionally, if the user wishes to appeal from having their posts removed, they may do so by clicking on the Request A Review button in the Account Status page.
Instagram did not mention when the new notifications will be made available to all users across the globe. Given that the feature is under testing, there’s also a chance that it might not roll out in the end. However, considering last week’s incident, including such notifications would be a good move for the image sharing platform, especially in informing users of any issues that may disrupt its services.
(Source: Instagram [Official blog])
