Instagram Adds Search Feature For Web Users

Instagram announced that it’s updating its website with a comprehensive search feature, which will help the Web interface to catch up to its mobile app.

Until now, Instagram users on the Web were only able to browse photos and see who liked the pictures. Now, users will be able to click on and search hashtags, locations and user accounts, in the same way that they can on the smartphone app.

“Today, we’re bringing search capability to our Web experience,” said an Instagram representative. “We’ve better aligned our Web experience with our mobile app in a way that’s faster, cleaner, and more beautiful.”

Instagram was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012, and it’s one of the world’s most popular social networks with more than 300 million monthly active users. The app allows users to take photos and share them with friends, as well as to apply filters to add an artistic element to the pictures.

Instagram has been making regular updates over the past several months to keep its growing number of users engaged. In June, the social network included an “Explore” feature to let users find real-time news and events. Additionally, earlier this month, it started letting users share high-resolution photos on its platform.

It has now been about three years since Instagram first launched on the Web, but its Instagram.com site has always been quite simplistic. In addition to ramping up search for the Web, this week’s new feature will also build out the landing pages for locations and hashtags. For example, when a user clicks on an “Austin” location tag on a photo, they’ll be taken to a landing page with all photos tagged “Austin.” Users will also be able to see “top posts” when they search locations and hashtags.

“We’re committed to improving discovery on Instagram across our platforms,” said the company’s representative. “While Instagram.com is designed to be complementary to the mobile apps, it’s important to the global conversations that happen on Instagram. Instagram.com allows you to view Instagram content from anywhere, and brings the Web at large to the Instagram community.”

So, how long will it be until Web users can use Instagram filters directly on their computers?