Instagram Rolls Out Option to Share Feed Posts with Friends
What is Instagram rolling out for friends?
As it works to better align the app with evolving user behaviors, Instagram is rolling out a new option to share feed posts with Close Friends only. It provides another way to facilitate more enclosed group engagement.
The influencer marketing expert Lia Haberman is the creator of Jordan Shalhoub. Some users now see a new ‘Audience’ selector option within the post-composer flow.
What the new option can enable?
It lets them share their feed post with ‘Close Friends’ instead of posting to their profile as standard. It is an expansion of the Close Friends option that Instagram added for Stories in 2018.
What Instagram has added since the ‘Close Friends’ content mix?
It has since added Notes and Reels into the Close Friends content mix, but thus far, you have yet to be able to create feed posts for Close Friends only.
What more has Instagram experimented on?
Instagram has experimented with several other variations of private sharing. Some of them have included ways to share posts with selected users. You can also switch your profile to private to restrict your posts from public view.
What this new option of Instagram can do?
This new option will make it easier to limit who can see your posts with a direct prompt within the creation flow. It enables you to activate this setting on a post-by-post basis.
Any selection you make on IG will not impact your Facebook audience settings when cross-posting.
As noted, the update aligns with the broader social sharing shift towards more private group engagement instead of public posting.
What does the Instagram chief say about it?
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has repeatedly said that Instagram users now share way more content via DMs than they do in feed posts or Stories.
He and his team have been working to build new features to link to this trend. It includes collaborative posts, post collections in chats, notes, and more.
Sharing posts with close friends is just another step along this path. It could help users feel more comfortable communicating more often if they know that only a few trusted people will see this update.
Is it a significant change?
It is not a significant change; functionally, it is not a big shift either. But it would provide another good option to facilitate more enclosed group discussion. It could help IG lean into the latest behavioral trends.
Do you want to know more?
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