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Napier Lopez
ReporterNapier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He's interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in Napier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He's interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in his free time. Follow him on Twitter.
As anticipated, Instagram now lets you follow specific hashtags in addition to individual accounts. The company started testing the feature about a month ago, but is now rolling it out to everyone.
It’s a handy addition; following a hashtag could be a good way to regularly discover new users who post about content you care about. Conversely, it’s useful for when you want to see more of a certain topic, but don’t want to deal with everything else individual users post.
To access the feature, just search for or tap on a hashtag you’re interested in, and select “follow” – just like following an individual account. The company says it will only shows “top posts” from a hashtag too, so you don’t have to worry about your feed being overwhelmed.
As for privacy, Instagram says it follows the same rules as regular accounts; the hashtags you follow will only be visible to your followers if your account is set to private. So no worries if you don’t want everyone to know you need a daily dose of #cutehudgehogs or something.