Instagram introduced a new feature to make the app safer

This is a great idea.

With the vast popularity of social media comes a whole host of keyboard warriors and abuse from anonymous people hiding behind a screen. People are being abused by complete strangers about every aspect of their online lives and social media users are constantly crying out for improvements in safety and filtering abuse online. While we need more regulation on all social media sites, Instragram is one of the first to make a real change in the right direction. Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of the app, posted a message the Instagram official account on Monday afternoon. He discussed the hopes he and co-founder Mike Krieger had for the app when it first started, and how in many ways they have achieved that.

"The beauty of the Instagram community is the diversity of its members. All different types of people — from diverse backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientations, abilities and more — call Instagram home" He said. "But sometimes the comments on their posts can be unkind. To empower each individual, we need to promote a culture where everyone feels safe to be themselves without criticism or harassment. It's not only my personal wish to do this, I believe it's also our responsibility as a company." He explained.

The first feature that they will introduce is a keyword tool,which moderates any words you deem insensitive. There will be a new feature when you click on the gear icon (in the top right hand corner) which lets you enter certain words you find offensive and inappropriate, then comments with those words will be hidden from your page. There is a default list of words provided which you can use, or you can add your own. We love the idea of helping to make Instagram a better place, and this may help to target people who feel their sole purpose is to offend people online. Kevin also acknowledged that there is still more to be done.

"We know tools aren't the only solution for this complex problem, but together, we can work towards keeping Instagram a safe place for self-expression. My commitment to you is that we will keep building features that safeguard the community and maintain what makes Instagram a positive and creative place for everyone."

We hope other social media sites and apps follow suit. You can read the full post here. https://www.instagram.com/p/BKQq_z0h-ZI/?taken-by=kevin&hl=en