Swiss hotel chain offers ‘Instagram sitters’ that can post on your behalf

Want to document your amazing vacation but want to go off the grid at the same time? Sounds impossible, right? Well, for Ibis hotel chain, they are offering a trial “Instagram sitter” service for all of its 17 properties in Zurich and Geneva. Hotel guests can have one of the 16 social influencers take care of their Instagram accounts while they enjoy their vacations. Called “Relax We Post,” the service employs the help of influencers like local radio DJ Sylwina, lifestyle blogger Cristina Gheiceanu, and Germany’s Next Topmodel’s Sara Leutenegger.

To avail of the service, you’ll need to give your login details so that the Instagram sitter can curate your feed while you’re staying at the hotel. The Instagram sitter can post photos, videos, and Instagram Stories for you. If you want, they can even respond to comments made on your account. The sitter can even help you find the most “Instagrammable” spots in the hotel and the city. You can also let them know about specific feed requirements or requests, like not posting photos of meat if you’re a vegetarian.

Source: Lonely Planet

Instagram redesigns profile interface

You might be noticing some changes to your Instagram profile’s interface. If it seems cleaner, less cluttered to you, then the Facebook-owned social network is testing out the new look with you. You might be seeing features being re-arranged at the top of your profile. There could be changes from things like the icons, buttons, and how you navigate between tabs. Instagram says they’re changing things up to make profiles “easier and cleaner to use.” But you don’t have to worry about how photos and videos show up on your grid, the company isn’t touching that. Instagram will be testing these changes in phases and in different combinations so don’t be too surprised if things change around in the coming weeks. Instagram will keep tweaking as the company learns more from the feedback from its users. 

Instagram tool accidentally exposed some user passwords

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The woes and security faux pas Instagram and its parent company Facebook doesn’t seem to end. It was recently reported that Instagram’s Download Your Data tool had a security flaw that accidentally leaked passwords in plain text. The tool was designed to let users get a file of all the pictures, comments, and other information they’ve shared on the platform be downloadable. It was rolled out in April to comply with new data privacy regulations in Europe as well as address any privacy concerns users had in the middle of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Unfortunately, there was a security issue that included passwords being sent in plaintext in the URL. And for some reason, these were stored on Facebook’s servers, too. But the company said these have since been deleted. The issue has also been fixed, according to Instagram.

According to a spokesperson from the company, only a “small number of people” were affected and they were informed if they were affected by the security vulnerability. If you didn’t hear anything from Instagram, it means you’re safe. But if you’ve used the tool, it might be better to start updating those passwords and activating two-factor authentication for good measure. And if you use that password for other accounts, better update passwords there, too.

Source: Digital Trends

Instagram will now let you share IGTV videos on Instagram Story

Being able to add a link to an IGTV videos used to be limited to business accounts. But now, Instagram will let all its users share IGTV videos on Instagram Story. You just need to tap on the paper airplane icon and it’ll show you an option to “Add video to your story.” Your followers can just tap on the preview to watch the entire video in IGTV. The feature works similar to how users can repost stories they’ve been mentioned in.

Source: The Verge