Better, faster, stronger Instagram hashtags

Because #Yolo

I‘ve always been surprised by how Instagram users would upload their pictures with countless hashtags. “It must take a long time to type all that!”, I thought, and copying/pasting hashtags from somewhere else is also an extra effort and a waste of time.

How could this process have a better UX without exiting the app? 🤔
I heard a voice in my mind: “Hello, it’s me”, said Image Content Analysis.
In other words, what if Instagram could detect the various elements of your picture and suggest you related emojis and hashtags?

Current Instagram design (left) and my redesign proposal (right), where user actions are re-organized more visually, and the “Suggestions” feature is added

How would Suggestions work?

Prototype showing how users would add suggested emojis & hashtags

The redesign was made with UX heuristics in mind. Let’s take a look at how it works:

• After uploading your picture, Image Content Analysis will detect the various elements in it (Dog, Eiffel Tower, Sky, Trees,…) and will show you equivalent emojis & related popular hashtags, avoiding further research.
• Bigger and foreground elements in your photo appear suggested first (in this case, the Dog, following the Eiffel Tower, the Sky, etc.). This way, the most important elements of your picture take the credit they deserve and hashtags actually relate to the image.
• Emoji & Hashtag suggestions are optional and aim to make the process of writing a caption faster. You can still enter them manually if wished.
• Tapping on suggested emojis and hashtags will add them instantly to the text editor, giving you a live preview of your post: final image size and total text length and style (black for plain text, and blue for hashtags).
• Users can “Add all” hashtags suggested under each element to save time. In case of immediate regret, the user could “Undo” this action.

What’s your process when inserting numerous hashtags on Instagram?

Do you…
a) Type them manually
b) Explore Instagram’s related hashtags to inspire you
c) Use an external app/website/customized list to copy/paste them
d) Other (describe your process)
e) Pass the job to your unicorn Alfred 🦄

Hope you enjoyed this article 💚
I’m Yasmin, a UX/digital product designer that loves crafting fun, intuitive and eye-friendly products.
Feel free to say hi in Dribbble 🏀 or to visit my portfolio 🖌