Instagram Guides Serve Up Advice For Pandemic Living

During a global pandemic like the one we're currently in the midst of, it's safe to assume that a lot of people are stressed out. Whether it's fear of the virus itself, uncertainty about the economy moving forward, or just a general frustration that day-to-day life has ground to a halt in many respects, there's a lot of reason to be worked up at the moment. Instagram is looking to help with that, today announcing a new feature called Guides.

Instagram Guides are billed as "a way to more easily discover recommendations, tips and other content from your favorite creators, public figures, organizations and publishers on Instagram." It sounds like Guides will eventually expand to cover a range of topics, but here at the start, they'll be focused primarily on wellness content.

"We'll enable creators to connect with expert organizations to share resources during this time, including tips on how to look after your well-being, maintaining connection with others or managing anxiety or grief," Instagram wrote on its blog today. It sounds like Guides will be a collection of posts curated by the creator – tapping on an individual image or video will take you to the original Instagram post, and you'll be able to share a Guide to your story or in Instagram Direct.

For now, the only way to access Guides is to head to profiles belonging to participating creators or organizations – a list of some of the creators and companies cleared to create guides is available in that blog post linked above. Once you're there, tap on the middle icon below the "Follow" and "Message" buttons to see that creator's guides.

Instagram says that it will make Guides accessible through the Explore tab at some point in the next few days, but for the time being, the method above is the only way to find them. We'll see how Instagram expands Guides in the future, so stay tuned for more.