Instagram Adds Clubs, Channels to School Partnership Program

Instagram is expanding the tools available to schools and verified students in its School Partnership Program, the company announced. The update adds clubs and teams, new posting options, school-wide Channels, a student directory and a profile banner. All of the features go live today.

Partner schools can now create clubs and teams that act as centralized hubs for information and upcoming events. Admins for those clubs, along with the overall partner program admin for a school, can post Stories and Notes. School administrators can also create Channels to share important updates with students, parents and teachers.

Visibility is limited to verified members of each school community. Only verified students for a school can see its Stories and Notes. To confirm student identity before someone joins a school community, Meta partnered with UNiDAYS.

Verified students also get access to a school directory that lists verified peers, and they can add a school banner that is visible only to other students and to teens they follow back.

Background

Meta launched the School Partnership Program last year, promising to prioritize reports from participating schools' students about bullying and harassment. Under the program, reports from partner schools are moved up in Meta's moderation queue, and Meta responds within 48 hours, as reported by Engadget.