If you're a business owner or marketer, chances are you spend more time on your computer at work than you do on your smartphone. Which can make managing Instagram moderately frustrating. Since Instagram was designed as a smartphone app, they have inherently made it smartphone friendly and desktop not-so-friendly. But, in the last year or so, Instagram has continued to add to the versatility and functionality of the Instagram.com website, making it easier for you to manage Instagram on your desktop.

So, what CAN you do from the desktop version of Instagram? Quite a lot, actually!

View All Posts

Whether you want to scroll through your home feed (where all of the content those you follow is displayed), or scroll through your own content, it's all there for you on the desktop version of Instagram at Instagram.com.

Just go to the website from your computer and login with your credentials. You're all set!

Engage

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to type, answer questions, and paste longer responses using the keyboard on your computer, versus your tiny little QWERTY keyboard on your smartphone? 😉 Right? We all have!

So, if you spend a lot of time commenting on others posts, or responding to comments on your own Instagram posts, using the Instagram.com website on your desktop can be WAY faster and more efficient.

View Followers and Followings

Yes, once logged into your account, you can see all the people you are following and those who are following you. But, you can also see the same information for any other account on Instagram, just like you would on the mobile app.

Search

While it's kinda hidden, there is actually a Search bar at the top of the Instagram.com website. It's faint and at the very top, but it's there.

Start typing and you'll find all people (or hashtags) that match your search.

But, remember that search parameters are the same on desktop as they are on mobile, so Instagram is only looking at names and usernames for matching search content.

Click, View, and Search Hashtags

You know how important hashtags are on Instagram, but if you are more comfortable using you big computer monitor to scroll, search, and find hashtag related content, you are free to do so on your computer now!

You can click on any hashtag you see on a post to be taken to that hashtag gallery. Or you can even use the Search function to find hashtags.

Edit Your Profile

Yes, you can actually even edit your bio and other portions of your profile on the desktop. Go to the profile page (the person icon) and click "Edit Profile" just like you would on mobile.

Manage Your Authorized Applications

This is something you can ONLY do on the desktop actually, and it's something people don't do enough!

Do you know how many times you've logged into an app or tool with your Instagram credentials? Probably not. And I bet you it's a lot more often than you thought.

The good news, is that you can actually go in and manage all of those applications and delete any you no longer want to have access. I highly recommend you do this for any apps you don't recognize or use frequently. This will help prevent risk of losing your account to hackers and other risks. Worst case, if you remove access from a tool you do use, you would just have to reauthorize the next time you logged into that tool.

Go to the Edit Profile option on the desktop and from the left menu options, choose Authorized Applications. All of the apps will be listed and you can simply click the Revoke Access button to clean up your access points!

Block Comments

A recent update to Instagram was the ability to block comments that are negative and/or contain certain words or phrases you don't want to see. This is meant to reduce bullying and other derogatory behaviors on Instagram. And while this is geared more towards individuals, there may be some things you want to block on your business profile.

You can do this, again in the Edit Profile option, and selecting Comments from the left menu options.

Email and Text Communications

You can also edit which email and text message communications you want to receive from Instagram. From the Edit Profile option, select Email and SMS from the left menu and deselect or select the options you wish to (or not) receive.

Open a New Account

Earlier this year, Instagram also added the ability to actually create a new account using the Instagram.com website. You go through all the new setup steps like you would on mobile.

So, if you're setting up a new business account or personal account, and would prefer, you can do everything to get started right on your computer.

So, for all the things you can do, there are still some very important things you cannot do. Here's what those things are.

You Can't Post to Instagram

I know, this was what you really wanted to be able to do. But, Instagram is still keeping this feature for mobile only use. Sorry!

If you want to know the tools I recommend for posting from the desktop via a 3rd party tool, check out this post. These are the ONLY tools I recommend.

No Emoji Keyboard

One of the fun things about Instagram is using emojis and characters to show your personality and brand. But you don't have access to that emoji keyboard on your desktop so you'll miss out on this feature.

Also, not all emojis translate directly to the desktop viewing so some things may look a little different when you're viewing comments and captions on the desktop.

Bio Doesn't Retain Formatting

While you work so hard to format a bio on the Instagram app, with spacing and characters, it's all one big run-on paragraph on the desktop. Understand that what you're seeing on anyone's profile on the computer is not necessarily what it looks like on mobile.

As of right now, that's everything you can and cannot do with Instagram on your desktop. Of course, I'm sure another update will pop up soon to change something 😉 But in the meantime, I hope this will help you better utilize Instagram in a more efficient way.