Meta revealed several new Instagram updates, including a new reposting feature, friends tab and map, announcing the news on Wednesday.
“People have always come to Instagram to share what they’re up to and where they are. Now, with reposts, the map, and the ‘Friends’ tab in Reels, it’s easier for you and your friends to stay in touch through the content you’re enjoying on Instagram,” Meta wrote in the release.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri explained in a video that the company wants the platform “to be not just a lean-back experience that is fun and entertaining, but also a participatory one.”
Like on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram will have a feature that’ll allow users to repost public feed posts and video reels, USA Today reported. Meta explained that reposts will populate the friends’ and followers’ feeds, and a new reposting tab will live on users’ profiles.
Reposted content will be shared with the reposter’s followers while giving credit to its original creator.
“This gives creators an opportunity to reach even more people,” Meta said in the release.
Users can find their friends and content on the Instagram Map
Meta also unveiled Instagram Map, a new feature that’ll give users the option to share their location in-app. Users will be able to share their last active locations with permitted accounts. Meta noted that users can switch off the feature anytime.
Users can also use the map “to see content your friends and favorite creators are posting from interesting or fun locations,” Meta mentioned in the release.
The new map feature will allow parents “with supervision set up” for their children to “have control over their location sharing experience on the map.”
“You will receive a notification if your teen starts sharing their location, giving you the opportunity to have important conversations about how to safely share with friends,” Meta wrote. “You can decide whether your teen has access to location sharing on the map and see who your teen is sharing their location with.”
According to Business Insider, Snapchat users may recognize Instagram Map, as it’s similar to Snapchat’s Snap Map. The new map feature will be available in Instagram’s direct messaging inbox starting Wednesday.
Friends tab
Instagram Reels will soon include a new Friends tab where users can see “public content your friends have interacted with, or recommendations from Blends you’ve started, and easily start conversations about them,” USA Today reported. The new tab, already available to U.S. Instagram users and expanding globally, will offer privacy tools in case users don’t want to share their likes, comments and reposts with friends.
“We’re also rolling out controls for what’s shown in the Friends tab, including the ability to hide your own likes and comments on reels, and to mute activity bubbles from specific people you follow,” Meta wrote in the release.
Instagram users call out the new features, especially the map
Instagram users quickly turned to X to comment on the new changes. Many aren’t fans of the updates.
Others condemned the new maps feature, calling it invasive and potentially dangerous.
“Now you can share your exact location with your followers on Instagram. Make sure yall turn that s**t OFF,” another tweeted.
One even called the new feature “a little weird.”
Instagram’s new features follow the platform’s July announcement of safety measures for its teen users and accounts run by adults that feature children, according to Tech Crunch.
