Facebook and Instagram announced changes to their API earlier in 2018 which affects how third party apps will be able to access user information going forward. The biggest announcement was that the Instagram Legacy API (Old one) was being deprecated this year in 3 phases, and that the Instagram Graph API (New one) would be available to replace it with support to Instagram Business Accounts.
We hosted a webinar on Dec. 6th, 2018 at 12pm PST discussing these specific changes and how we've addressed these changes moving forward with Socialdrip (now Photoboxx). We also discussed tips and advice on how to best use Instagram for your events moving forward.
APRIL - Phase 1 (Accelerated)
In April, the first phase of the Instagram Legacy API deprecation was accelerated and had a slight affect on how Socialdrip would use these features for Instagram.
Main Changes that effected Socialdrip back in April:
You can learn more about how these initial changes affected parts of Socialdrip (now Photoboxx) for users by reading this announcement here.
DEC - Phase 2 (Public Content)
Coming on Dec. 11th, 2018, phase 2 of the Legacy API deprecation will take place. This includes deprecation of public content which effects how Socialdrip retrieves posts from Instagram via #HASHTAG.
Early 2020 - Phase 3 (Basic Content)
This is the last phase will deprecate the basic content that allows apps to access basic content of users that authenticate. This will not affect our software.
-- Long Story Short --
Socialdrip (Now Photoboxx) has moved over and been approved to use the new Instagram Graph API and will be requiring Instagram Business Accounts for all users starting December 11, 2018.
With this shift to the Instagram Graph API, there are 3 main changes to the Socialdrip (Now Photoboxx) Platform that users will have to take note of starting Dec. 11th, 2018.
All users with a personal Instagram profile will have to switch to an Instagram Business Profile in order to continue using Socialdrip with Instagram after Dec. 11th, 2018.
New Feature! - @Mentions for Instagram - Starting Nov. 15th, Socialdrip users can now put the @Mentions feature to work for your events! We believe this is a huge win overall and will be a better use for events than hashtags in the future!
What about Hashtags on Instagram?
Facebook and Instagram announced that there was a plan in place to replace a way for third party apps to retrieve posts via hashtags after the Dec. 11th deprecation date. However, there was not an official announcement that this would be available until recently when they announced the "Hashtag Search API" available on Oct. 31st, 2018. So hashtags are here to stay - but there will be some changes.
With this recent announcement, our development team has been hard at work implementing this new feature with the ability to support the new Hashtag Search Capabilities.
The new "Hashtag Search API" has some known differences and limitations from what is currently available in the Legacy API. Once again, the core functionality of the Socialdrip software is NOT affected by this change, and we are working through these changes and will announce how these changes will affect some features on Socialdrip soon.
Because of these limitations, all Socialdrip users will be able to use the old method to retrieve hashtag posts on Instagram while using a personal Instagram Profile. However, after Dec. 11, 2018, all Socialdrip users will be required to use an Instagram Business account.
Stay tuned for more information, and as always, please contact us if you have any further questions as the Instagram platform is changing for the industry as a whole.