Nothing says Gen Z more than opening a second Instagram account, or a “finsta” (a contraction of “fake” and “Instagram”), to shitpost about your chaotic night out or share updates on your most recent fling or situationship. Fortunately (or unfortunately), those days might soon be over as the photo-sharing app just recently launched a new feature that finally allows users to exclusively share feed posts and reels that only those on their close friends’ list can view.
The option, which has been available for Instagram Stories exclusively since 2018, has now been extended to grids, meaning that users will finally be able to curate a more private and selective presence online. Using the new feature will work in the exact same way as it has for Stories up until now. All you need to do is select which audience— all of your followers or just your close friends list— you’d like to share your pictures, videos, or reels with. Posts will then only show up on their feed as well as your grid, with a green star icon just above them, and will remain invisible for those who aren’t part of that exclusive circle.
“We know our community already uses Close Friends as a pressure-free space to connect with the people that matter most. We hope this opens up more ways to be your most authentic self on Instagram while having more choices over who sees your content,” Instagram wrote in a statement announcing the new update.
In the past couple of years, finstas referred to secondary accounts, usually private, where users would let go and be themselves without having to follow a specific aesthetic or curate a carefully crafted persona. As a raw depiction of a user’s most authentic self, following someone’s finsta usually mirrors a certain level of proximity and acquaintance as the content shared could very easily be detrimental if it ever went public or was posted elsewhere without the account owner’s consent.
In other Instagram news, the platform also unlocked another functionality allowing users to save their favorite reels directly to their camera roll. The feature, which is very similar to one that is already available on TikTok, appears when clicking the “share” button. First introduced to a limited number of accounts in the US before being rolled out globally, this new update reflects Instagram’s ongoing efforts to enhance user experience by providing them with more versatile features than simply sharing their favorite snapshot from their holidays.
