Instagram’s New Gallery Feature Makes a Great App Even Better

Give Instagram credit – it’s never shied away from risk. Whether borrowing ideas from Snapchat, redesigning its app icon or switching to an algorithm-based timeline (revolt!), the popular image-sharing service keeps proving that, as long as the essence of your product remains, change isn’t always the boogeyman it’s made out to be. 

The latest in this string of (depending on where you fall) either delightful or outrageous tweaks came last month, when Instagram added the ability to share multiple photos and videos within a single post. Can’t pick a fave from that trip to London? Now you can share 10 of them! All consolidated into a slideshow presentation and integrated seamlessly into your followers’ timelines.

Granted, if you’ve used the app in the past year or so, you’ve probably seen these gallery-style posts before – just not from everyday users; paying advertisers have had access to the feature for a while. But the feature’s now available to ‘Grammers far and wide, so you’ll see it in your feed more frequently as awareness increases.

Just one word of advice for all you first-time multi-image posters out there: Please, for the love of all that is sacred, make your galleries as cohesive as possible. You only get one caption for the whole post, so there needs to be a consistent theme – and look – throughout. Social media snobbery is real, you know. And if you aren’t careful, you could be its next unwitting victim.

Wait, is that a Juno filter next to a Sierra? UNFOLLOWED!