Instagram

“A picture says more than a thousand words,” and Instagram makes it easy for you do just that. This app is all about sharing photos from your day-to-day life. Naturally, you’re free to use it however you wish. You can also “like” and comment on photos posted by others. Quite simply, Instagram is an enjoyable social forum for following friends and family, as well as celebrities, brands, retail shops, etc. that may inspire you.

Getting started

Open the "Play Store" app on your smartphone and search for “Instagram” in the search field at the top of the screen. Tap “Install” and agree to the conditions of use. When the installation is done, tap “Open”.  Now you need to register and create an account. Or, if you have a Facebook account, you can use the same account and login for both apps.

View, like and comment pictures

The Instagram menu is at the bottom of the screen. Tapping the house icon brings you to your Home tab, also known as your “News feed”. Here you can see all the images posted by you and everyone you follow. This is also normally where you arrive every time you open the app.

To “like” a picture you can either tap the heart symbol below the picture, or double tap the picture. The number of “likes” a picture has received is shown directly below it.

To comment on a picture tap the small speech bubble below it. This brings up the keyboard so that you can enter your remarks, which will be visible to the person who posted the image and anyone else who views it. If you want to direct a comment to a particular person you can enter the person’s username preceded by “@”. This notifies the person that he or she was mentioned in a comment, so they can view the image and read what you wrote.

Post a photo

To post a photo of your own tap the plus sign icon in the middle of the menu at the bottom of the screen. Now you can select photos stored on your Doro smartphone by tapping “Gallery”, or take and post a new photo by tapping “Photo”.

After selecting a photo you can make certain enhancements before posting it. Try the different filters, or choose “Edit” to zoom in or out using two fingers, move it about with one finger, rotate it, adjust exposure, and much more. Don’t be afraid to play with the various options to learn how they work. When you’re done, tap “Next” at the top right of the screen.

Now it’s time to add a caption. Tap the text field at the top of the screen where it says “Write a caption…” This brings up the keyboard so that you can type in whatever you want.

A fun feature for your followers (friends) is to let them know where the photo was taken. To do this, tap “Add Location” and Instagram will automatically suggest a number nearby places. Tap any of these to select, or tap the “Find a location” field at the top of the screen and begin typing. Instagram will then list some suggestions for you to choose from based on what you write.

If there are people in your photo who also use Instagram, you can “tag” the photo with each person’s username. Tap “Tag People” and then tap the photo to search for a person you want to tag. Select from the list of results and drag the tag with your finger to the right person. Repeat for each person and tap “Done” when you’re finished.

When you are all done with your photo simply tap “Share” in the upper right of your screen to post it. Now all your followers will be able to see it.

Search

When you tap the magnifying glass icon in the menu at the bottom of the screen you will come to the Explore tab. Here you will see a collage of highly popular photos by users you are not yet following, but might like to. Tap the search field and begin typing to search for celebrities, favourite sports teams or other Instagram users you might like to follow. When you see something of interest in the list of results tap it to get more information. Then tap the “Follow” button if you would like images posted by this user to automatically show up in your News feed. If this user has a private profile, they will receive and must first approve your request before any of their images appear in your News feed. In the same way you can receive requests from others by making your account private.

Private or public account

Worried about letting just anyone view your photos? By changing your account from public to private you can decide who is allowed to see them. To do this, tap the person icon at the far right of the menu at the bottom of the screen. This brings up your profile tab where you will also see all the photos you have posted, how many users are following you, and how many you are following. Tap the cogwheel icon at the top right of the screen to come to the Options page. Scroll down using one or more fingers until you see the “Private Account” switch. Tap the switch so that it changes to blue. Now only those users whose requests you approve will be able to follow you and see your photos. To approve or reject requests from those who want to follow you, tap the heart icon in the menu at the bottom of the screen. Then tap “Follow Requests” at the top of the screen. Now you can tap “Confirm” for those with whom you want to share your photos, and “Delete” for those you want to ignore.

Hashtag (#)

Hashtags make it easy for you and others to find photos related to a particular subject, but posted by many different users. Suppose for example you want to find fun and inspiring photos from a favourite city. Enter your search by typing a hashtag immediately followed by your query without any spaces or other characters, e.g. “#visitlondon”. And if you want to share your own photos from a recent visit to New York City, for example, you could add something like “#ilovenewyork” in the caption to those photos when posting them. This is also a great way to get guests at a special event to share their photos using a unique hashtag for that event, e.g. “#willandmariasweddingmay1st”.

Now you’re ready to explore a world of inspiring photos, and to share a few of your own.

Good luck!