With messaging becoming a bigger part of the Instagram experience, Instagram is adding many new messaging capabilities, including the option to respond to a new direct message (DM) without leaving the Home Feed. Share posts with friends quickly, see who’s online to chat with, and much more. Instagram said the new DM features are part of their “ongoing work to improve how you interact and share with your closest friends” in a statement on their page.
Instagram’s new messaging features
Instagram has made a few changes to make it easier for people to respond, share, and chat:
Browse and chat at the right time
- While you’re browsing, reply: Have you gotten a new message when perusing your feed? You may now respond without having to navigate to your email and risk losing your place. This new feature makes chatting on the app much easier and more convenient.
- Send to friends quickly: Instagram wants to make it easy for individuals to share interesting content with their friends without interrupting their Instagram experience. You may easily re-share posts to your closest friends by touching and holding the share button.
- See who’s online: At the top of your inbox, you can see who’s available to chat right now, which might help you find unexpected ways to connect with friends.
Message threads with brand-new experiences
Use these new capabilities to personalise your message with your friends:
- Play, pause, and re-play: You can now share a 30-second teaser of that music you can’t get out of your brain, and your friends can listen immediately from your chat, thanks to integrations with Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify coming soon.
- Send messages quietly: Add “@silent” to your message to send messages without waking up your friends late at night or when they’re busy. You can now communicate without fear of sending unwanted notifications.
- Keep things lo-fi: Feeling relaxed? To make your interactions feel more intimate, use the new lo-fi chat theme.
- Make a poll with your friends: Decide where to go for dinner or when to meet up. They’re bringing one of Messenger’s most popular group chat features to Instagram, allowing you to make a poll right in your group conversation.
For many, DM usage has been a staple of Instagram engagement, and with messaging becoming a more significant usage choice in general, it makes sense for Instagram to capitalise on such trends and promote more direct engagement. These new features are now available in a limited number of countries, with ambitions to extend worldwide.
This is part of Instagram’s ongoing efforts to increase your ability to connect with and share with your closest friends. Keep an eye out for additional entertaining ways to connect.
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