QUESTION ABOUT INSTAGRAM

andreaalvise · Aug 14, 2020

Surfing the internet I read an article on a website. In the article there was an Instagram video with several icons (likes, comments...) and also a strange icon ( I attach a photo taken from the web as example,but the situation is the same)
From the left:there is the like icon (heart),comments and then....? What does that symbol means (the arrow pointing up)?
I tried to click on it but nothing happens, if I click on the other icons it redirects me to instagram (ex: if I click on the like icon I get the message "log in to instagram to like", the input occurs). I repeat that I was on another site, I read an article with this video and this icon. What does it means? Did I accidentally share something ?

lunatic59 · Aug 14, 2020

andreaalvise said:
What does that symbol means (the arrow pointing up)?

Upload. So you can send you picture or video to your Instagram account.

andreaalvise · Aug 14, 2020

lunatic59 said:
Upload. So you can send you picture or video to your Instagram account.

I haven't an Instagram account. I tried to click on it but repeat,nothing happens.I made the same test with other mobile devices and the result is the same
What does it means ?

svim · Aug 14, 2020

You need to sign up for a Instagram account if you want to have unfettered access to Instagram content.. It's free so there is that but as far as privacy concerns don't every forget that Instagram is owned and maintained by Facebook.

andreaalvise · Aug 15, 2020

So it is normal that by clicking nothing happens?

Hadron · Aug 15, 2020

I'm surprised it doesn't ask you to sign up or sign in. But if you don't have an account you can't upload anything, so it not doing anything doesn't surprise me.

What does surprise me is your having an upload button at all if you aren't signed in. I just checked by visiting a friend's Instagram page from a browser with no login and was not offered an upload button. I'd expect the app wouldn't work at all without signing in. So what are you using.

andreaalvise · Aug 15, 2020

That button always appears when an article of a site contains a video from Instagram. When there is an Instagram post with a video,there is always the possibility of upload,but repeat,I click on it and nothing happens (there is no chance to log in or other options).
So in this way,if I click it,I haven't an account Instagram,nothing happens,it's as if nothing happened,right ?

andreaalvise · Aug 16, 2020

I tried the procedure with the mobile phone of a friend. She has an account Instagram and the Instagram app installed. First, I opened Internet and I went to the article with the video(in my case,it's a movie site with the article about a famous actor).I opened the article and there was the situation described in the image attached:likes,comments and the arrow pointing up. I clicked it,it didn't work,but clicking the other icons an input occurred. So I clicked an other icon (heart,like to the image)to make an input and a new window was opened. There was the video and the request to login Instagram to put a like,but this time instead of the arrow there was the icon of the paper airplane(share icon). I clicked it and it worked. I tried also to see the video directly in the Instagram app,so I opened the app,I went to the profile of the actor and I clicked the video. Same situation:likes,comments and the paper airplane(it worked). There is the upload icon(arrow) only in the Instagram videos in the articles of Internet and every time it doesn't work.
What do you think about ?

Hadron · Aug 16, 2020

I think it's poor user interface design.

In a website or app that's intended for general users rather than specialists it should be obvious what every element does, and buttons that won't work for that user (which includes people who aren't logged in) should be removed or greyed-out. If you confuse or frustrate people you drive them away. (My employer's finance system is a fine example of this: the UI is designed for experts and is very non-transparent, but their idea is that everybody uses it. What do you mean, I sound bitter...?

).

Given that engagement is what Insta relies on and spends fortunes thinking about ways to increase it seems increasingly sloppy for them to leave a mess like you describe in a public release.

andreaalvise · Aug 16, 2020

Hadron said:
I think it's poor user interface design.

In a website or app that's intended for general users rather than specialists it should be obvious what every element does, and buttons that won't work for that user (which includes people who aren't logged in) should be removed or greyed-out. If you confuse or frustrate people you drive them away. (My employer's finance system is a fine example of this: the UI is designed for experts and is very non-transparent, but their idea is that everybody uses it. What do you mean, I sound bitter...? ).

Given that engagement is what Insta relies on and spends fortunes thinking about ways to increase it seems increasingly sloppy for them to leave a mess like you describe in a public release.

Yeah,this button appears on EVERY INSTAGRAM POST with a video in EVERY ARTICLE of Internet(I made the example of a movies site,but there was the same situation also about a Instagram video on a general information website). When they post on them sites a video taken from Instagram,there is ALWAYS that icon,and not the paper airplane.
But clicking on the arrow,didn't I do anything,right ? Because if the icon doesn't work,the input for a command doesn't even start,right ?

Hadron · Aug 16, 2020

The truth is that I've not been able to reproduce the issue. I've tried looking at my son's Instagram page, which has some videos, in a browser and I only see the paper airplane icon. This is without logging into Instagram.

But if you are seeing this then there is something wrong in their system.

lunatic59 · Aug 16, 2020

I have been unable to reproduce the problem myself. I've tried using a test phone with an account that has virtually nothing linked to it (Instagram/Facebook/Twitter, etc.) and the icon isn't there. You refer several times to an article that linked you to some videos. Could you post the link to the article and let us know which link in that article took you to the problem page?

andreaalvise · Aug 16, 2020

Hadron said:
The truth is that I've not been able to reproduce the issue. I've tried looking at my son's Instagram page, which has some videos, in a browser and I only see the paper airplane icon. This is without logging into Instagram.

But if you are seeing this then there is something wrong in their system.

lunatic59 said:
I have been unable to reproduce the problem myself. I've tried using a test phone with an account that has virtually nothing linked to it (Instagram/Facebook/Twitter, etc.) and the icon isn't there. You refer several times to an article that linked you to some videos. Could you post the link to the article and let us know which link in that article took you to the problem page?

I think it is not a problem of system,because I tried many times with different devices(my phone,the phone of my friend,that of my father,also an Iphone) and every time I found the arrow;moreover I found it at least in 2 different sites,the common thing was an Instagram video posted.
I attach the link of the article of my test:it is in Italian but don't worry,you have only to scroll down and there are 2 Instagram videos.

https://www.badtaste.it/2020/08/10/...dgren-nelle-scene-inedite-di-rocky-iv/441436/

I await updates

andreaalvise · Aug 16, 2020

https://www.dagospia.com/

This is another site I visit sometimes.
Also here you have to scroll down the page,and on the right side of the page there is a section called "DAGO SU INSTAGRAM" with videos of the official Instagram account of the site.Same situation:arrow pointing up.
Awaiting updates.

lunatic59 · Aug 16, 2020

I tried a few different ways, but i still can't reproduce the upload icon. This is what I see when I click on the links ...

Keep in mind that this is on a phone with no Instagram account. I also tried it through my personal account and it shows me the same thing. The only thing I can think of is that you have an old version of the Instagram app or a bad copy of it.

andreaalvise · Aug 16, 2020

lunatic59 said:
I tried a few different ways, but i still can't reproduce the upload icon. This is what I see when I click on the links ...

View attachment 153104

Keep in mind that this is on a phone with no Instagram account. I also tried it through my personal account and it shows me the same thing. The only thing I can think of is that you have an old version of the Instagram app or a bad copy of it.

I tried visiting websites also on PC,and the result is the same:upload icon. But I noticed your same thing: the upload icon appears only if you watch the video in the sites,if you click on it and watch the video on Instagram there is the share icon (paper airplane).
I await other tests.

lunatic59 · Aug 16, 2020

When I play the video it opens another window. Perhaps you have a pop-up blocker that's preventing the window from opening.

Hadron · Aug 17, 2020

andreaalvise said:
I tried visiting websites also on PC,and the result is the same:upload icon. But I noticed your same thing: the upload icon appears only if you watch the video in the sites,if you click on it and watch the video on Instagram there is the share icon (paper airplane).
I await other tests.

In which case it's those sites that are presenting the useless icon, not Instagram.

andreaalvise · Aug 17, 2020

But what was the function of the upload icon ? Is it a useless icon now(in other words,is it from an old instagram version and is this icon no longer used ? ) ?Doesn't it work anymore ? Has this icon and its function been replaced from the paper airplane ?

lunatic59 · Aug 17, 2020

The only people who can answer that question are those who coded the website or wrote the app that you are seeing. We can only speculate.

andreaalvise · Aug 17, 2020

lunatic59 said:
The only people who can answer that question are those who coded the website or wrote the app that you are seeing. We can only speculate.

But was that icon present in older versions of Instagram ?

Hadron · Aug 17, 2020

andreaalvise said:
But was that icon present in older versions of Instagram ?

It wouldn't make sense for an upload icon to appear on someone else's posts, so it's a little hard to believe that you'd have seen that when viewing other people's feeds in Instagram. But I've not used it very much or for very long, so can't swear that it was never present somewhere. I do suspect that seeing it in these sites is something to do with how the site embedded the video rather than anything to do with Instagram (frankly I didn't trust those sites enough to click on anything).

andreaalvise · Aug 17, 2020

Hadron said:
It wouldn't make sense for an upload icon to appear on someone else's posts, so it's a little hard to believe that you'd have seen that when viewing other people's feeds in Instagram. But I've not used it very much or for very long, so can't swear that it was never present somewhere. I do suspect that seeing it in these sites is something to do with how the site embedded the video rather than anything to do with Instagram (frankly I didn't trust those sites enough to click on anything).

But was this icon first usable(example,in the first versions of Instagram) and then it was replaced by the share icon(paper airplane) or is it an anomaly ?

andreaalvise · Aug 17, 2020

https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/players/eric-dier-dele-alli-bromance-18652239

Adding another example
This is an english football site,in the article there is an Instagram video and also here there is the upload icon(the arrow).
I watched also other sites and the situation is the same:there is ALWAYS,when in an article an Instagram video is posted,the upload icon and not the share icon. But if you click on the video and watch it on Instagram,there is the share icon (paper airplane).

lunatic59 · Aug 17, 2020

Okay, I see what's going on ... it's BAD UI design at it's best ... worst?

This looks like the default framework from Instagram when you embed one of their videos on a web page. Examining the underlying html indicates that that icon is for sharing, not uploading. And if you pay close attention, the adjacent icons will turn a subtle shade of gray when you hover over them, indicating that they are active, where the share icon does not. It may well be that sharing from an embedded item -- either photo or video -- is a user option that is enabled or disabled by the owner of the originating account. Instead of hiding inactive icons, they just removed the hover feedback.

I suspect there's a bot the website uses to grab content from Instagram and doesn't modify the html embed code, because it certainly would be easy enough to comment out that icon if it was inactive.

QUESTION ABOUT INSTAGRAM

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