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For some years Instagram has been one of the most used applications in the world: actors, singers, and footballers share moments of their day thanks to this social network.
Everyone talks about it, your friends talk about it, your family members talk about it, but if you are here it means that in all probability you have no idea what it is and how it works.
Well, no problem!
Thanks to this precious guide you will learn everything there is to know about Instagram.
Follow the steps in this article step by step, where I will show you all the aspects of this application: we will see where to download it and how to subscribe, also how to upload content and follow the most interesting personalities in order not to miss even an update of your favorite stars.
Instagram was born not long ago, the application was developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, two graduates from the prestigious American University of Stanford.
Initially launched only on the Apple Store, the virtual market for Apple devices, Instagram was immediately a great success, and reached 10,000 subscribers in just one hour!
Now, of course, it can be installed on different operating systems, IOS, Android, Windows Phone, etc ... the important thing is to have a data plan or wi-fi access that allows you to surf the Internet.
To date, it is used by millions of people who can post and share photos.
This application has really involved everyone, even the royal house of England on the occasion of the birth of the future King George has decided to communicate the happy event through Instagram, as well as the tennis champion Andy Murray has posted a video to thank his fans after his win in Wimbledon.
Do you also want to join those who want to share their shots on Instagram?
Nothing could be easier!
All you have to do is take your smartphone or tablet, and click on the system default store icon ( App Store for Apple, Play Store for Android and Windows Store for Windows Phone), type Instagram in the search bar and press the download button.
Of course, first make sure you have enough space on your phone, because Instagram has a certain weight, like the Facebook app. If you can't find it, you can take a look in the sections with the trendy applications or those chosen by the developers: it will surely be one of the first.
Once downloaded, click on the app icon and the login screen will appear (do not forget to report any loading problems to the developers): At the bottom, you will find the item Do not have an account? Sign up, which you will have to select.
There are three ways to register:
The latter is the faster one as you don't have to fill in anything.
If you have chosen e-mail or mobile phone, you must first indicate your full name, then the password for your account and finally the profile photo that will represent you; pressing Next you can select your username (this also for those who sign up via Facebook).
As the last step, you will have to decide whether to find your phone contacts on Instagram: if you don't want to do it you can safely crush jump.
Perfect! Now you have completed the registration and you can start posting photos immediately.
Just press the + in the bottom center to take a photo directly, or, if you want to upload one from the gallery of your mobile phone, hold down and select the item Library.
To load multiple elements you will have to press Select multiple elements (rather elementary).
Before posting the photo you can decide whether to apply a filter (very famous are those with a vintage touch), edit the photo using different tools, or leave it as it is by pressing on Normal.
Now, in the top bar, you can decide whether to share it as a post or send it directly to your contact as a private message.
In any case, you can choose whether to add a caption. You can also tag people, add the place where you took the photo and share it on other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr.
Just press Share and the image will be posted or sent.
Still using the + button, you can upload a video, adding an effect: to change its intensity, simply press twice on the name of the filter.
If you then want it to have no audio, you will press the speaker. The sharing and sending options are identical to those of the images.
Now you know how to share photos and videos, so it's time to find out how Instagram social network works.
This means that you can interact with the different contents: you can like, comment and share all the photos that capture your attention, and the users who want to see your photos will be able to do the same. By pressing the magnifying glass icon you will access the Explore section, where you will find many popular posts.
To like it, all you have to do is click the heart symbol under a photo, while the comic allows you to comment on it.
By clicking on the paper plane you can send the photo via private message, and with the bookmark, you will save it as a favorite.
To find it, just go to your user profile (icon of the little man at the bottom right), in the Saved Items section.
These two terms are widespread, and if you want to know everything about Instagram you can't know what they mean.
You become a follower when you click the Follow button next to the profile of a user whose photo we don't want to miss: from that moment on, in fact, every new image posted by him will appear on your Home screen. You too can have followers!
If you want to know how to increase Instagram followers take a look at our dedicated article.
A hashtag is a word in the caption of a photo or video that is written preceded by the "pound" symbol (#): this allows you to classify a photo in a specific category, making it visible to those who are passionate about it.
To give you an example, if you post a photo of a foreign city, you can put the hashtag #travel: so those who look for images in the travel category can view it.
Everything can become a hashtag: terms, phrases, catchphrases: not surprisingly, many Influencers and companies use nice and funny slogans to capture the attention of those who use Instagram.
Perhaps you will remember Lorenzo Fragola's song " Outside there is the sun": this is an example of how the hashtag is widespread in all fields, not only in the virtual one.
Instagram has recently added some new tools to facilitate even more the sharing of photos and videos in real-time: these are the Stories and the Live.
