top of page
Ankur Sachdev

New Instagram Features Added to DMs

New Instagram features pertain to its DM function wherein DM is short for Direct Messages. For a basic reference, Instagram facilitates the sharing of content in the form of images and videos with friends, family members, and others worldwide. Owned by Meta, Instagram demonstrates how people can be kept together in the growing horizons of a virtual ecosystem.

New Instagram featured added to DMs.
Media from Unsplash; New Instagram featured added to DMs.

New features of Instagram bring three elements to the table, namely new stickers, nicknames, and location sharing. All these have been added, or will be added, to the DM function of the social media mobile application.


For starters, Instagram has announced a bunch of new stickers to enable users to express themselves more freely. This aligns with the overall objective of the app which also incorporates fueling deep friendships. Users now have access to 17 new sticker packs and more than 300 stickers. Their usage is limited to DMs only - fostering emotions that would otherwise have to be expressed through words.


You can be laughing on the floor and express the same with a sticker instead of typing ROFL. So, new stickers add emotions to messages sent via Instagram DM.


Users can pick their favorite sticker and mark it accordingly to re-use it later in a chat. Those who regularly share memes can quickly react to those messages now. Also, users can mark cutouts as their favorites in Instagram DMs.

Another new Instagram feature is assigning a nickname. Users can do this to themselves or their friends simply by tapping at the top of the chat and entering a nickname. The same would be visible only in the chat boxes with an option to modify them any time. The default mechanism allows users you follow to change or edit the nickname. This can be changed in the settings section of Instagram.


Nicknames in DMs can additionally be used to simplify someone’s long or complicated username. Apart from having fun with each other, users can choose to make it convenient for them to identify the other person.


Setting a nickname will not change the username or it will not appear anywhere else on the mobile app. If it gets out of hand, then choose to change the setting so that the nickname can only be updated by you, the primary user.

Finally, it’s the feature that gives users more time to spend with each other instead of wasting it on navigating a location, or finding each other in a crowded place. Live Location Sharing as one of the three new Instagram features gives up to 1 hour to users to share their live location. The active notification about the same stays at the top to remind that the location is being shared. Once expired, the link stops fetching information to the other Instagram user.


Multiple uses of Live Location Sharing via Instagram DMs are to share your specific location, find each other in a crowded space, and save time that would otherwise be wasted in seeking directions or landmarks.


Live locations shared through DMs cannot be forwarded to another DM - thereby, keeping the geographical location private, only between relevant users. However, it is recommended to be mindful of privacy at the time of using Live Location Sharing with people you have never met in real life.


Live Location Sharing via Instagram DMs can be done in private chats or group chats.


Instagram is yet to make it available in all the regions. In fact, these features are possibly due for a rollout and they could take time before becoming available to everyone. Keep updating Instagram, or keep checking for new updates. Or, enable auto-update for Instagram to not skip a beat.

 
Buy me a pizza if you loved this article.

Bình luận


DON'T MISS THE FUN.

Thanks for submitting!

bottom of page