Instagram testing new feature that allows users to share feed posts with only ‘close friends’
There could be more privacy for Instagram users posting on their feed in future.
The social media platform seems to be testing a new feature that allows users in countries such as the United Kingdom to post photos on their feed that are visible to just their “Close Friends”, according to news reports.
“We’re testing the ability for people in select countries to share feed posts with their Close Friends,” said a Meta spokesman who was quoted in a report by Insider on Thursday.
On Monday, digital media marketing instructor Lia Haberman posted a screenshot of the new feature on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Coming to Instagram. Close Friends feed post. It’s been spotted by someone posting in the UK,” she wrote.
“This would be one way to get people off Stories and out of (Direct Messages) DMs - create a Close Friends feed experience.”
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has said that Instagram users are sharing way more Instagram Stories and DM than posting on their feed in the last five years or so.
Since 2018, Instagram has made the “Close Friends” option available to users who are posting Instagram Stories.
With this option, users can create a list of users they wish to share their Instagram Stories with, so that their Stories would not be visible to all followers.
The latest “Close Friends” feature for feed posts is seen as another privacy upgrade, which is aligned with the “broader social sharing shift towards more private group engagement, as opposed to public posting”, wrote social media marketing analyst Andrew Hutchinson.
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