To acquire success within social media platforms, one must have a keen understanding of the tools and features available. Today, we’ll take a closer look at the Instagram Activity Status – a feature that allows us to see if someone is currently online on the app and to keep track of when certain individuals were present on the Instagram app.
It might seem complicated at first, but once we dive deeper into today’s topic – you’ll soon realize the true meaning and sheer potential of the green dot you usually see on some of your chats.
Why don’t you see a green dot on all of your chats?
Finding the answer to that question and many more was never this easy – keep scrolling down!
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Understanding Instagram Activity Status
After countless hours of research, we noticed two things:
- There are far more individuals on Instagram who primarily use the app for everyday browsing and keeping in touch with their friends and families than those who are determined to use it for business inquiries.
- The overwhelming majority of both parties don’t know how to utilize the activity status feature properly.
Don’t get us wrong – there’s nothing detrimental in not knowing what to do with the most recent activity status that you’ve noticed; however, if you wish to elevate your game and presence on Instagram and other platforms, then we highly recommend that you stay active until the end of the article!
As the name suggests, seeing someone active on Instagram provides you with real-time information about users’ online status and presence.
Immediately after someone opens the app, a small green dot will appear next to their profile picture, providing you with helpful information that someone is currently active on Instagram.
Before we start explaining how you should use the Instagram online status to your advantage, we’ll first explain how to access and view the Instagram active status.
Accessing and Viewing Activity Status
Instagram did a phenomenal job of integrating the status feature seamlessly – let’s learn how:
- For starters, you’ll need to open the Instagram app – it’s vital to remember to update it as frequently as possible, as all features, including the activity status feature, receive certain changes from time to time.
- Next, navigate to your direct messages (DMs) in the top right-hand corner of the main page
- Android and iPhone users will have a similar outline from here on out – try to find a profile icon with a visible green dot next to it.
Congratulations – from here on out, you can now check the Instagram online status of most of your friends.
We say most for a good reason – an average user will toggle on to show activity status, but other users might decide to hide their accounts’ online status on Instagram.
So, how do we access Instagram’s settings menu for the activity status?
Managing Your Own Activity Status
According to our preferences, Instagram allows us to control our online presence – we decide who, when, and what someone can see us on the platform.
For privacy and other security-related reasons, the default setting regarding Instagram’s activity status is turned off – until you decide otherwise.
However, if you wish to be visible on Instagram, then you’ll need to do the following:
- Like always, open the Instagram app and find your profile picture in the bottom right corner – this applies to Android and iPhone users.
- Clicking on the profile icon will land you on your profile page – from there, find the three horizontal lines in the screen’s top right corner.
- Tapping on the three lines will present you with several options – the Settings and privacy are what we aim for.
- From there, you must locate the “How others can interact with you” segment and press on Messages and Story replies.
- Finally, find the Show activity status; the rest is easy – toggle it on!
Interpreting Activity Status Icons
Once you manage activity status icons properly, you’ll gain another layer to understand the dynamics of online engagement.
The user’s activity status on Instagram can provide valuable insights and better analysis of when your friends access the app and how long they stay on it. Although the green dot is the main focus of the story – there are other activity status markers like Active Now and Active Today.
By looking at them, we can differentiate if someone is currently using their phone or desktop to browse through content on Instagram or if their interactions on the app were recently finished.
It’s important to remember that Active Today represents a time frame ranging from a few minutes to a staggering 24 hours.
So, when we try to gauge the responsiveness and availability of potential connections, it’s imperative to understand when other users remain the most active.
Activity Status Settings and Preferences
Instagram did a phenomenal job providing a customizable toolkit to manage the activity status effectively.
We can access these options from the Instagram’s Privacy section:
The one that most people decide to toggle on is the visible-to-everyone option. In doing so, their status on Instagram is active to all users, allowing them to not only show activity status but also see others currently online.
It’s interesting to note that you can’t see an active status on Instagram if you are private to others, so keep that in mind next time you decide to remain incognito!
On the other hand, you can toggle your active status to “only visible to some Instagram users” – with that, you can carefully diversify which accounts are worth enough to see you online and their status on Instagram.
People often have difficulties deciding what to do with which account, especially those trying to build a brand on social media platforms.
If you need help managing the activity on your platform and you’re looking for more engagement, contact us at Flock Social. We specialize in all aspects of Instagram.
Don’t hesitate to ask for help – we won’t hesitate in answering your calls!
Impact on Direct Messaging
In the early days of social media, the well-known Facebook Messenger gave us a glimpse of what’s to come within the realm of advanced messaging.
Nowadays, we can send messages through Instagram’s app and receive replies shortly after.
Those situations are mostly apparent when both people are currently online. So, the number one impact of activity status on Instagram is the creation of more spontaneous and engaging conversations.
By seeing if someone is active on Instagram, we can precisely gauge the likelihood of prompt responses, which further aids in fostering a more responsive and interactive communication environment.
It might not seem that important, but all individuals looking to achieve business inquiries can capitalize on this feature to provide instant customer support.
Even various social media influencers use this feature to engage with their audience momentarily!
Disabling or Hiding Activity Status
As previously discussed, the Instagram status feature can be toggled on and off indefinitely.
Why do some people disable or hide their activity status on Instagram?
Sometimes, certain individuals are more likely to enjoy creating memorable memories only with their friends and families – they feel most comfortable knowing that only their loved ones are seeing their treasured experiences.
The previous example is the most frequent one. Still, during our research, we noticed that a handful of users hide their active status because of a single person – believing that if anyone can see when they are online, the person they fear the most will find out indirectly.
We live in a wild world – don’t be scared to hide your online status if you have difficulties sharing your personal information – browse Instagram at the pace of your liking!
In the Know: A Guide to Understanding Instagram Activity Status – Conclusion
Slowly but surely, we have arrived at the end of the line, but before we depart, let’s take a quick look at the key elements of today’s topic, “Instagram activity status“:
- An average user on Instagram usually decides to show activity status.
- The status feature on Instagram can be observed through direct messages and finding the green dot.
- Besides the green dot, we can determine a person’s status on Instagram with Active Now and Active Today.
Depending on your preferences, you can always toggle the activity status in the settings on and off. If you have any further questions, please get in touch with us at Flock Social.
Until next time!
