Instagram launched its Creator Lab in India on Thursday during an event in Mumbai. This new educational resource will highlight prominent Indian Instagram users and offer content in English and Hindi, with additional captions available in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu. The initiative expands upon Instagram's 2019 Born on Instagram program to provide further support for Indian content creators.

The Creator Lab will feature contributions from 14 creators across India, who will share their expertise and strategies with aspiring creators. Meta India's Director of Global Partnerships, Paras Sharma, confirmed that the content will help guide local creators in developing their skills and engaging with their audience more effectively.

New Features for Enhanced Interaction

In conjunction with the Creator Lab launch, Instagram also introduced three new features designed to boost user interaction. The first of these features, Comments in Stories, allows users to comment directly on a story. Unlike standard comments on posts and reels, these comments will be visible to all users who view the story. Comments will disappear 24 hours after the story is posted unless the story is added to Highlights, in which case the comments will remain. Users can also disable this feature if they choose.

Birthday Notes and Cutouts in DMs

The second new feature is Birthday Notes. This will soon be available to users, who will see a hat icon in the Instagram Notes section on their birthday if they opt into the feature. Instagram's Birthday Notes will follow the same privacy settings as regular Instagram notes, so users should review and adjust these settings as needed before enabling this feature.

Additionally, Instagram has introduced Cutouts in Direct Messages (DMs). This feature will allow users to create and share personalised cutouts of images within their direct messages, enhancing the way they communicate with others on the platform.

These updates reflect Instagram's ongoing efforts to enhance user engagement and provide more tools for creators and everyday users alike.