Instagram’s proving yet again it’s not interested in fixing its glitches, instead, the Meta-owned app is still focused on launching new features and functionality. The latest? Collaborative carousels, a feature letting others contribute to carousel feed posts, which has been tested since July.
“We just started testing a new way to invite friends to join in on your feed posts,” wrote Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, on Threads. “Before posting a carousel, you can turn on the ability for your followers to submit photos and/or videos, which you can approve to add to the post.”
Added media would only be visible on the original post and wouldn’t be shared to the participating user’s feed or profile. Instagram handles and timestamps are shown on media added by others, and the original creator can remove media added by others at any time.
Mosseri added that he was excited about the creative possibilities this would open. Social Media Today said the new feature could be a good way to encourage more engagement and interaction in-stream, part of Instagram’s broader push to lean into collaborative posting options.
The publication noted that Instagram had recently added functionality to let you share a Story with multiple group lists at once – not just with Close Friends as had previously been the case. This lets you better curate who sees your updates. Instagram also recently allowed you to share feed posts with Close Friends only.
“These types of more collaborative, group engagement aligned options lean into the way that people are increasingly interacting in the app, within more intimate groups, as opposed to seeking maximum reach through public posting,” Social Media Today writes.
In August, Instagram announced it was rolling out the ability to add audio to your Notes status. If you’re not familiar with Notes, it’s a feature within Instagram. Launched late last year, it lets you share a message under 60 characters. The status is only visible to your followers in their Direct Message part of the app for 24 hours before it disappears.
Related: A Note on How Instagram’s Notes Feature Actually Works
Related: The Notes App Is the Most Powerful and Underrated Tool on Your iPhone
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