You installed the Instagram app on your mobile device because you’re curious to find out what this extremely popular social media is all about. But when you open the app for the first time, you might be feeling a little lost, because you don’t know exactly what accounts to follow or how to search for them. Where should you start from?

Well, know that you can get started by following your friends, family or coworkers if you have their phone number saved in your contact list. You might have some problems finding your friends on the app, because many people choose a username that could have nothing in common with their true name, so, you can simply find your contacts’ Instagram accounts by following a couple of steps that we’re about to explain in a minute. Also, when you follow your friends’ Instagram accounts, other interesting accounts that will get recommended to you.

You can find the people you know on Instagram by syncing your phone’s contact list with your account. Keep in mind that to be able to connect your contacts with Instagram, you obviously need to have some contacts to sync to begin with.

Connect your contact list to Instagram and find people to follow

Syncing your contacts is very easy, you’ll only need to follow these instructions:

• first, tap    or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile

• tap    in the top right, then tap  Settings

• now tap Account, then Contacts Syncing

• and for last, tap    next to Connect Contacts to turn on contact syncing

As already mentioned, when you connect Instagram with your phone or tablet’s contact list, you’ll be able to see a list of your contacts who are on Instagram. From there, you can choose the contacts you’d like to follow.

When your contact list is connected, it’s periodically synced and securely stored on Instagram’s servers. To remove your synced contacts, just tap Delete All. By doing so, your contacts will be re-uploaded the next time the app syncs your contacts unless you go to your device settings and turn off access to contacts.

Disconnect contact syncing

If you want to stop the contacts synchronization with Instagram, just do this:

• first, tap    or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile

• tap    in the top right, then tap  Settings

• now tap Account, then tap Contacts Syncing

• tap    next to Connect Contacts to turn off contact syncing

• for last, tap Disconnect: your previously synced contacts will be deleted

Find new people to follow

Instagram is full of possibilities when it comes to finding extremely interesting accounts. There are accounts fit for any person on this planet, dedicated to a wide variety of hobbies, trends, fitness activities, etc.

So, you probably would like to find as many enjoyable accounts as you can while on Instagram. Here’s what you can do to find people you might like to follow:

• tap    at the bottom to go to Search & Explore

• scroll down to explore posts and videos you might like from accounts you’re not already following
• or you can tap the search bar at the top to search for people, hashtags, places and events that interest you

You can search people by their name or username, too. The search results you see are based on a variety of factors, including the accounts you follow, who you’re connected to and what photos and videos you like on Instagram.