Instagram has officially launched three new features that it’s been testing for some time, with re-posts, friend map and a “Friends” tab in the Reels feed now available to all users.
First off, on re-posts, which is probably the most contentious of the three. And not because of the function itself, re-posts are obviously fairly common across social platforms. But for years, Instagram has resisted adding a re-posting option, for fear that it might discourage original posting activity.
Apparently, that’s not so much of a concern now.
As explained by Instagram:
“With reposts, you can repost public reels and feed posts, making it easier for you to share your interests with your friends. Reposts will be recommended to your friends’ and followers’ feeds, and they’ll also be in a separate tab on your profile, so you can always go back to revisit your reposts.”
As you can see in these example images, IG re-posts will include an image of the re-posting user’s profile picture, with a purple re-post icon layered on top of that.
Instagram’s also adding a “Re-posts” tab on user profiles, where you’ll be able to see all of the content that each user has re-shared, with any comments they’ve added also layered on top of the thumbnail image.
Which could fundamentally alter how Instagram works, and see your feed become a mix of AI-recommended Reels and random re-posts from people you’re connected to.
Which Instagram has been trying to highlight for some time either way. Earlier this year, Instagram added a new prompt to see Reels that your friends have liked, while it first began live testing of re-posts back in March.
So it’s been moving towards this for some time, in what many view as a significant shift in approach for the app.
Instagram says that Reposts are credited to the original poster:
“If you’re a creator, this means that if your content is reposted by someone else, it may be recommended to that person’s followers, even if those people don’t follow you. This gives creators a new opportunity to reach more people whenever you create something worth sharing.”
Which is how IG’s looking to angle this, as a means to boost creator reach, and maybe, there will be benefit to that. Last week, Meta also reported that over two-thirds of recommended content on Instagram (in the U.S.) now comes from original posts, and this could be another element in its broader push to boost original creators, and enhance its relationship with influential users.
But it does seem strange that Instagram was so resistant to the concept for so long, but now it’s fine.
Though, I guess, on balance, fewer people are posting to IG anyway, so maybe it’s less of a concern that this will discourage original content sharing.
Either way, Meta’s balanced this concern versus potential creator benefit and gone with the latter, which could have a significant impact on your IG experience.
Next up is Instagram’s answer to the Snap Map, with a new, opt-in “Friends Map” display, which will show where your friends are at any given time.
As you can see in this example, the IG Friends Map will be available via the Notes feed at the top of your inbox, enabling you to access a display of all of your friends who have their location tracking switched on in the app.
“You can opt into sharing your last active location with friends you pick, and you can turn it off anytime. You can also open the map to see content your friends and favorite creators are posting from cool spots. No matter how you use the map, you and your friends have a new, lightweight way to connect with each other.”
In addition to a user’s live location, the map will also display any content with a location tagged, including Reels, posts, Stories and Notes.
So, yeah, it’s Snap Map, in IG form, which could be a handy option, especially when you consider that almost half of all Snap users (400 million) use the feature.
Instagram’s been testing this for a long time, with the first indicators of the feature spotted in testing in November 2023. IG launched a live test of the map in August last year, and it’s now seemingly happy with the safety features and controls, which is why it’s moving to a broader release.
Though it’s also keen to highlight your control options for such.
Instagram says that users can choose who they share their location with, while you can also choose to not share your location in specific places or with specific people. Parents will also have oversight into how their kids share their location in the app, and optional control over whether their child can access the option.
Which is important, because:
“If you use location sharing, your location is updated whenever you open the app or return to the app if it’s been running in the background.”
So it’ll auto-update if you’ve opted in, which is the same as Snap, though Snapchat does give you a prompt to let you know when location tracking is active whenever you log in. Presumably, IG will do the same.
Finally, Instagram’s also adding a new “Friends” tab in Reels, which will display public content that your friends have interacted with, and/or recommendations from Blends that you’ve started.
Which is an expansion of the aforementioned listing of Reels that your friends have liked, which Instagram added back in January.
It seems that Instagram’s seen good engagement in displaying what’s trending within friend groups, so it’s looking to extrapolate that to its own feed.
As you can see in the above screenshots, the new “Friends” feed will be accessible via a listing at the top of the screen. Just like TikTok, though the feed is also populated with content that friends have liked, as opposed to only their posts.
Instagram says that users will have some control over what’s displayed here, so they don’t have to display everything that they’ve liked to a broader audience, while it’s also added a mute option for content recommendations from users you’re less interested in.
It could be another way to expand discovery, and encourage engagement through shared interests.
So, three new features, that aren’t really new, as they’ve all been in live testing for some time. But now we’ll see how a wider audience responds to them, which could have a big impact on your IG process.
