At its heart, Instagram is a visual scrapbook. It’s built for sharing photos and videos. Unlike platforms that focus on text, everything here starts with an image or a clip. This visual-first approach is key to understanding how people connect on the app.

When you open the app, you'll see a few main areas:

• Profile: This is your personal page. It has your profile picture, a short bio, and a grid of all the photos and videos you've posted. Think of it as your digital storefront.

• Feed: This is the main scrolling screen where you see new posts from the accounts you follow. It's a mix of photos, carousels (posts with multiple images), and videos.

• Stories: These are temporary posts that disappear after 24 hours. They appear as circles at the top of your feed. Because they're fleeting, people often use them for more casual, behind-the-scenes content.

• Reels: These are short, entertaining videos, often set to music. They are designed to be discovered by a wide audience, not just your followers.

Interacting with content is simple and direct. You have a few main ways to engage with a post.

• Likes: The heart icon is the simplest form of feedback. It's a quick nod to say you enjoyed something.

• Comments: This is where conversation happens. You can ask questions, share opinions, or tag friends. Comments are public and visible to anyone who can see the post.

• Shares: The paper airplane icon lets you send a post to someone directly through a private message or add it to your own Story.

• Saves: The bookmark icon lets you save a post to a private collection for later. This is useful for recipes, tutorials, or anything you want to find again easily.

How do people find new things on Instagram? One major way is through hashtags. A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), like #travelphotography or #homecooking.

When you add a hashtag to your post's caption, it becomes searchable. Anyone who searches for that hashtag or follows it can see your post, even if they don't follow you. Using relevant, specific hashtags is a powerful way to connect with people who share your interests.

Think of them as labels that categorize your content. A post about a homemade pizza might use #pizza, #foodie, and #italianfood. Someone looking for dinner ideas might find it through one of those tags.

Now that you know the basic layout and language of the platform, it's time to check your understanding.

These core concepts—from the different content types to the role of hashtags—are the foundation for everything you'll do on Instagram.