Since last September, Instagram has been testing a new
engagement option of sharing feed posts and Reels with a ‘Close Friends’ list
or a select group of followers. The app is now officially rolling this functionality
out to all users.
The ‘Close Friends’ audience setting was originally launched on Instagram
for Stories where users could select up to 100 people to share their
Stories content with. It’s interesting to see that Instagram is expanding it to
feed posts and Reels now, allowing users to have more opportunities to build close
connections with each other.
The reason why Instagram has been pushing enclosed and small
group interactions is due to the shift in social media usage trends, which have been
observed on other platforms as well. Similarly, users have started
to share more content via Stories and DMs as compared to sharing on Feed, as
noted by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri who has been emphasising on the
changes in users’ sharing activities.
