Instagram has officially announced its latest Pride Month features, with some new creative and functional tools to help support the LGBTQ community.

First off, Instagram is adding some colorful tools to highlight Pride-related content.

As explained by Instagram:

"No matter how you celebrate Pride, you can do it colorfully across Instagram. Together with GLAAD, we’ve identified prominent and popular hashtags – such as #lgbtq, #bornperfect, #equalitymatters, #accelerateacceptance, or #pride2019 – that the LGBTQ+ community uses to share and connect with each other. When you use these hashtags in Feed this month, they will be displayed in a rainbow gradient. New this Pride, when you use these hashtags in Stories, your story ring will turn rainbow while the photo or video is live for 24 hours."

The new color additions were actually spotted by reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong late last month, and provide some interesting considerations for Stories color-coding beyond Pride.

Instagram could start to add in more color options for different functions and events - there are already green Stories rings for friend-only content, and now rainbow, event-themed updates. There would be some limits on how far this could extend, but it's interesting to consider how such functionality could possibly be utilized for future tie-ins.

In addition to this, Instagram is also adding in more gender listing options for users.

"We’re updating the gender selection options in Profile to be more inclusive and reflective of how people self-identify today."

And off-platform, Instagram is also hosting a series of art installations which aim to highlight "lesser-known historic LGBTQ+ pioneers, places, and movements that have paved the way for the queer community and the next generation continuing to make waves."

Instagram's new Pride features will go live from this week - meanwhile, on Facebook, The Social Network is now highlighting Pride-themed backgrounds for your updates.

As you can see in these examples (shared by social media expert Matt Navarra), there's a range of rainbow-themed post backgrounds which you can apply to show your support for the LGBTQ community. 

And while most of these additions are simple aesthetics, the change to gender listing options on Instagram is significant, and will provide utility beyond Pride Month alone. Such options help to cater to more users, and facilitate a more inclusive atmosphere online - which is critical for the many people who seek to join relevant, supportive communities via the web.