Instagram Favorites: New feature aims to recreate intimacy of group chats
It could have a significant impact on the way people use the platform
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Your support makes all the difference.Instagram now lets users create lists of their best friends.
The photo-sharing platform has started testing a new feature that allows you to share posts with smaller groups of people, rather than everyone who follows you.
It works for both regular pictures and Instagram Story posts, and lets you determine exactly who can see your photos.
The feature is called ‘Favorites’, according to the Verge, and it could have a significant impact on the way people use Instagram.
Marking a friend as one of your favourite Instagram followers will likely make them feel closer to you and, as a result, they may be more inclined to Like your posts.
Getting guaranteed Likes could in turn encourage you to share a greater number of pictures on the platform.
Those friends may also decide to mark you out as one of their favourite followers, and create more and more private groups.
There are also clear benefits for privacy-conscious users, who would be able to exercise greater control over who gets to see their updates.
You can add or remove any of your followers from your Favorites list, and they won’t be notified in either case.
Any Favorites posts you share will only appear on your chosen followers’ photo streams, and will be marked with a green Favorites tag.
They’ll also be able to view your Favorites posts by hitting the new Favorites tab on your profile.
For anyone who isn’t on your Favorites list, that tab will appear to be empty.
Favorites has reportedly been in the works for over a year, and is currently being tested with a “small percentage” of users, ahead of a full rollout.
“We really want to get this right,” said Robby Stein, Instagram’s product lead.
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