Instagram introduces new feature to support small scale businesses

HIGHLIGHTS

• Instagram added a new "Support Small" sticker to stories
• Users can promote their favourite businesses using the Support Small stickers
• Facebook is also introducing a new feature called the Businesses Nearby

Instagram on Monday rolled out a new feature to help small scale businesses that are badly affected due to coronavirus lockdown. Many users noticed a new story added to the Stories feed with “Support Small” written beneath it. On tapping on stories, the users could see the names of small scale businesses around them.

Announcing the new feature on Twitter, Instagram tweeted from its official account saying, "Today we’re launching a “Support Small Business” sticker in stories so you can show love to your favorite small businesses. Use it and your photo or video will be added to a shared story where friends can see which businesses you support.”

So if you want to promote your favorite businesses on the platform, you can add the “Support Small Business” sticker to your story and post a story to the Stories feed. This would enable other uses to see the sticker, which will help in increasing the visibility of the company that you are promoting.

"As many stores remain closed and social media serves as an online Main Street, the shift to doing business online is more urgent than ever. We’re announcing new ways for people to support and discover small businesses, along with more tools for keeping businesses informed and connected with their customers," Instagram said in a statement.

As a report published in TechCrunch, Facebook is planning to add a dedicated Business Inbox to the Messenger App to make it easier for businesses to communicate with customers.

Facebook is also introducing a new feature called the Businesses Nearby, which allow users to see the latest updates and posts by the businesses near them on the social networking platform. This feature would help users in locating the shops that providing essential items and this would also help the businesses in connecting with the customers better.

"We want to do everything we can to support small businesses right now, whether that''s building new tools to help them stay in touch with customers or giving people the power to easily show their love to businesses they care about," said Instagram COO Justin Osofsky said in a statement.

Facebook will also post COVID-19 related information on its platforms including Instagram, along with tools and tips for small scale businesses. The information can be obtained by the businesses through the Facebook app or their Instagram handles.

The coronavirus pandemic has crippled the world in many ways and the small scale businesses and low-income workers have maximum challenges due to this. Tech giants like Facebook, Google are doing their best to support theme carry out their businesses in such trying times.

Instagram introduces new feature to support small scale businesses