October has been a busy one over at Instagram – the app just launched several new features that are total game-changers for creators and brands alike. 

Stories will no longer be broken up into 15-second segments. 

Instagram is testing a new feature that will allow its users to post stories up to 60 seconds long without being broken into shorter segments. This will allow users to add music and other effects to the entirety of their stories without having to manually go into each segment to align the added components. 

New metrics have been added to user insights.

There are three new metrics that users will be able to view within their insights and analytics – engaged audience, accounts reached, and accounts engaged. 

Engaged Audience – this shows demographic information for the number of accounts that have interacted with your content (including promoted content.) 

Accounts Engaged – this is a metric that will show the number of accounts that have interacted without your content over a specified period of time. 

Accounts Reached – this shows demographic information for the number of unique accounts that have viewed your content at least once (including promoted content.) Within this insight, you can view content reach, showing which types of content (reels, stories, etc) are reaching your audience and which type of content are seen most. 

Posting via desktop enabled.

This long-awaited feature will allow users to post natively to Instagram.com from their desktop with no additional steps or third-party services required.

New “Collabs” Feature. 

Instagram is rolling out a new feature called “Collabs,” permitting users to co-author posts where both usernames will be visible in the header.

Scheduling IG Lives.

Instagram has launched IG Live scheduling tools that will permit users to schedule live broadcasts up to 90 days in advance, as well as more easily promote their scheduled broadcasts within the app.