We all love Instagram, after all where would we be posting our coveted and sometimes embarrassing selfies? Not everyone is like President Obama and his buddies Cameron and the Danish Prime Minister who hit international headlines when they take selfies in public. Where else would you see all those amazing photos from wonderful events around the world? What if you just wanted to share that selfie with your close circle of family friends or school buddies and not just everyone who follows you on Instagram? That’s why Instagram just announced Instagram Direct a few moments ago.
Wondering how Instagram Direct will work? Here’s what the official Instagram says about it:
When you open Instagram, you’ll now see a new icon in the top right corner of your home feed. Tap it to open your inbox where you’ll see photos and videos that people have sent to you. To send a photo or video to specific people, tap the camera button to enter the same simple photo or video capture and editing screens. At the top of the share screen, you’ll see the option to share with your followers (“Followers”) or to send to specific people (“Direct”). To send using Direct, tap the names of the people you want to send your photo or video to, write your caption, tap “send” and you’re done.
After sending, you’ll be able to find out who’s seen your photo or video, see who’s liked it and watch your recipients commenting in real time as the conversation unfolds.
If you are a Facebook user (of course you are) then you know of that nice little feature called Timeline Review whereby not everything like posts, links, photos or videos that your friends tag you in will automatically appear on your feed/timeline until you have approved it. Instagram Direct will work in a similar way. People whom you don’t follow can be able to send you photos using Instagram Direct but those photos won’t appear in your inbox. Instead it will appear in your usual notifications/requests window/tab where you’ll have to grant permission to that particular request before the photo or video can finally appear in your Instagram inbox.
Basically what I’m not telling you even after writing those many words is that Instagram now has an inbox that you can use to send and receive direct messages photos and videos.
Instagram Direct is available in the version 5.0 update for Instagram apps for Android and iOS. As of the time of posting this, that update is yet to hit the Play Store but it should be rolling out anytime now. Instagram Direct won’t be coming to Windows Phone’s Instagram app since it is still in beta but it should be available soon
Source: Instagram
