Last month, Instagram rolled out two major improvements to the Search and Explore functions of its app; changes that confirm its ambitions to truly compete with rivals like Twitter. In a nutshell:

The upgraded Explore now surfaces trends as they emerge in real-time, connecting you to events and conversations both near you and around the globe. Meanwhile, the Search function now features a Places tab, which allows you to search for any location on Earth to find and interact with photos and videos that have been tagged there. On a related note, the new Top Search tab will return all the most popular content from any particular location.