Let's start off with the disappointing part of today's Instagram announcement: The app is not, contrary to some rumors, returning to its chronological feed. However, Instagram is making an important change that addresses one of its more annoying inconsistencies.
Starting today, you'll finally be able to add profile and hashtag links to the bio section of your account. This means that if you include the name of your company's Instagram account or one of your alternative accounts, anyone looking at your bio can tap the username to automatically go to that account. The same goes for connecting to hashtags, whether you're all about the #hairgoals or part of the #beyhive.
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To add live links, go to your profile and tap "Edit Profile" towards the top of the screen. Start typing "#" or "@" and select the correct listing from the dropdown menu. If you add a link to another user's account, that person will get a notification letting them know about it. Any hashtags and usernames already in your bio will be automatically linked when the update rolls out, and users will also get notifications when this happens.
Compared to all of the other features Instagram has added over the past 12 months — new fonts, ways to share Stories as DMs, and location and hashtag Stories — today's update feels overdue. You've been able to link hashtags and profile names in captions on posts and Stories for awhile now. The app also emphasized the importance of hashtags in December, when it introduced an update that let you follow hashtags in the same way you follow an individual user account.
However, it's clear that Instagram is finally paying attention to bios: This is the second refresh in three months. At the end of 2017, bios got their first major update since 2013, with the creation of a Story Archive that extends the 24-hour lifespan of Story posts.
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