Instagram's plan to be more social: maps, reposts, and seeing more of what your friends like
The Meta-owned app is adding a map to see friends' locations and introducing reposts.
Instagram's top exec, Adam Mosseri, said he doesn't want Instagram to just be entertainment.
Instagram wants to be more … social.
The Meta-owned platform announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out three new features in an effort to help its users better connect with their friends.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said in a video posted to the app on Wednesday that the company wants "Instagram to be not just a lean-back experience that is just fun and entertaining, but also a participatory one."
One of Instagram's new features aimed at helping people connect with their friends is a map where you can share your location. The map will show where you were last active on Instagram. And yes, that does sound a lot like Snapchat's Snap Map (and it wouldn't be the first time Instagram's ripped a page out of Snapchat's playbook).
The new map feature will be accessible in Instagram's direct messaging (DM) inbox. The company has dramatically expanded its DM features in the past year or so, where the bulk of the app's social interactions actually occur.
Sharing locations with friends and family has become commonplace for young people — especially Gen Z — with apps like Apple's Find My Friends being a go-to for the generation. Meanwhile, new startups are also trying to tap into the social mapping craze, such as Bump, a French app from Amo, which was founded by the former Zenly team (a social mapping startup that was acquired by Snapchat in 2017).
Don't fret if sharing your location on Instagram makes you want to run for the hills. You have to opt in to sharing your location with people, and you can choose who you share that location with (such as only followers you follow back, your "Close Friends" list, or a select few). Parents also have control over location sharing for teen accounts, Instagram said in a blog post.
Instagram's map is available in the US and a handful of global markets starting Wednesday.
Reposts are finally here
Instagram announced two other features on Wednesday: reposts of reels and feed posts, and a global expansion of its "Friends" tab.
Mosseri said in the same video that reposts have been a "request for many years," adding that the reason Instagram is finally introducing reposts is that the feed itself is already comprised of recommended content from accounts people don't follow.
Instagram joins rival TikTok, which introduced a repost feature back in 2022.
Instagram is also expanding the "Friends" tab for reels, which will now show reels that friends have either commented on, liked, reposted, or posted themselves.
Users will be able to start conversations with their friends using the "reply bar," which triggers a DM. Instagram introduced more privacy tools for its friends tab as well, including the ability to opt out by hiding your likes, comments, and reposts from friends, or muting that content from people you follow.
The friends feed has already been rolled out in the US, and is now expanding globally.
Mosseri said this feature is "a way to explore your interests and your friends' interests" and also "get to know a little bit more about" those friends. In addition to Instagram being entertaining, Mosseri said he wants the platform to be somewhere users "actually engage with and connect with the people that you care about."
Just a few months ago, whether Instagram was more of an entertainment platform rather than a social network was front and center at Meta's antitrust trial brought by the Federal Trade Commission.
One slide from Meta's opening statement at the trial revealed that just 7% of the time spent on Instagram in 2025 was spent viewing content from friends.
Perhaps Instagram wants to turn that around.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
a few seconds ago
- Business Insider
OpenAI's head of ChatGPT shares the one trait you need to be successful at the company
Landing a job at OpenAI often requires a strong tech background, experience at top-tier companies, and a genuine passion for AI research. Succeeding at the company, however, requires the ability to work without a playbook. "Approaching each scenario from scratch is so important in this space," Nick Turley, the head of ChatGPT, told Lenny Rachitsky on his weekly tech podcast on Saturday. "There is no analogy for what we're building. You can't copy an existing thing." He added that OpenAI cannot iterate on products or features developed by existing tech giants like Instagram, Google, or a company already known for its productivity tool. "You can learn from everywhere, but you have to do it from scratch. That's why that trait tends to make someone effective at OpenAI, and it's something we test for," he said, referring to an employee's ability to start a project from the ground up. Turley also discussed OpenAI's release strategies. The company unveiled GPT-5 on Thursday to mixed reviews. He said OpenAI intentionally ships features before they're fully ready. "We get a lot of crap for the model chooser," he said, referring to the now-discontinued dropdown menu in ChatGPT that allowed users to select between OpenAI's models. Turley's thesis is that it's better to "ship out something raw even if it makes less sense" so you can start learning from real users. Companies often wait to unveil productsbecause they want to adhere to "a quality bar," but it's actually better to roll out features quickly to ensure you get the feedback you need, he said. "The reason really is that you're gonna be polishing the wrong things in this space," he said. "You won't know what to polish until after you ship" and that is "uniquely true in an environment where the properties of your product are emergent." The launch of GPT-5 is an example of this philosophy at work. After criticism, the model switcher has been removed and replaced with a "real-time router" that selects the most appropriate model to handle each user request. "Previously, you had to go deal with the model picker in ChatGPT," OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said in an interview with Big Technology, a tech newsletter, on Friday. "You had to select a model that you wanted to use for a given task. And then you'd run the process of asking a question, getting an answer. Sometimes you choose a thinking model, sometimes you wouldn't. And that was, I think, a confusing experience for users." Of course, it's impossible to satisfy everyone. After GPT-5's release, users immediately complained that they could no longer access a fan-favorite older model. So OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he'd bring it back.
Gizmodo
29 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Tesla's Cybertruck Is Suddenly Sold Out (Sort Of)
After months of being a commercial disaster, something curious is happening with the Tesla Cybertruck. For the first time since its troubled launch, Elon Musk's futuristic pickup is showing signs of life. The wait time for the Cybertruck's cheapest model has suddenly stretched to over a month, suggesting a spike in demand for a vehicle that, until now, almost no one seemed to want. The question is whether this is a genuine turnaround for the polarizing pickup or just a temporary sugar rush fueled by a looming government deadline. The Cybertruck was never a normal vehicle. Unveiled in a now-infamous 2019 event where its supposedly 'bulletproof' windows shattered on stage, the sci-fi pickup, with its radical stainless-steel design, was hyped by CEO Elon Musk as an indestructible truck that would change the world. But after years of production delays, the reality has been brutal. In the second quarter of 2025, Tesla sold just 4,306 Cybertrucks, a staggering 50.8% plunge from the same period last year, according to data from Kelley Blue Book. The used car market has been just as unforgiving, with resale values crashing over 30% in the past year, according to data from CarGurus. By all metrics, America's most hyped truck has been a commercial bust. Tesla's Numbers Are In, and They're Not Good That's what makes the latest change on Tesla's website so bizarre. As of Sunday, anyone ordering the base model 'Long Range' Cybertruck (starting at $72,235) will now have to wait 3 to 5 weeks for delivery. Meanwhile, the two more expensive variants, the All-Wheel Drive and the top-of-the-line Cyberbeast, are listed as available for immediate delivery. This suggests the sudden delay for the cheapest model is being driven by a surge in new orders. This theory is supported by the fact that other popular Tesla models, like the Model 3 and Model Y, have also seen their wait times increase from a few weeks to over a month in the last 48 hours. The Great American EV Tax Credit Rush Has Begun The most likely culprit for this buying frenzy is the expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit on September 30. For last-minute buyers, the base model Cybertruck is the most attractive target. Once the credit is applied, its price drops to a more palatable $64,735. Tesla appears to be leaning into the rush. The company's website prominently features the tax credit, and a recent post on X from the official Cybertruck account touted its self-driving features, a clear move to capture the attention of buyers on the fence. 'Cybertruck is the only pickup truck that can drive itself anywhere under your supervision,' Tesla posted. Cybertruck is the only pickup truck that can drive itself anywhere under your supervision — Cybertruck (@cybertruck) August 3, 2025For a vehicle that has been bleeding momentum, this last-minute rush could be a chance to finally stem the bleeding. But the real test will come on October 1, when the tax credits are gone and the Cybertruck has to survive on its own merits for the first time. We'll soon find out if this is a real comeback or just the final, fleeting moment of a hype cycle that has finally run out of gas. The Cybertruck has been a profound disappointment for Tesla, a vehicle that has consistently under-delivered on its own hype. After a disastrous second quarter and a collapse in the used car market, the company has been in damage control mode, even offering desperate promotions like a free accessory with purchase. The sudden spike in demand for the cheapest model is almost certainly a temporary blip caused by the expiring tax credit, a last-minute rush from buyers who see a chance to get a discount on a vehicle that has failed to justify its premium price. Once the government incentives are gone, the Cybertruck will face its true test, and all signs point to a continued and difficult road ahead for Elon Musk's sci-fi vanity project.
Wall Street Journal
30 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Scrapping AI Export Controls Is Self-Defeating
Aaron Ginn's op-ed 'China's and America's Self-Defeating AI Strategy' (Aug. 6) mischaracterizes the purpose and effectiveness of export controls. The policy was never intended as a brick wall but as a strategic speed bump—one essential tool among many for maintaining America's lead in artificial intelligence while limiting China's military capabilities. The controls on Nvidia's H20 chips appear to have been working until CEO Jensen Huang's lobbying secured a reversal that handed Beijing exactly what it wanted. DeepSeek's founder admitted that the chip controls were his company's biggest constraint. As AI's compute demands soar, export controls allow America's hardware advantage to deliver compounding benefits. Reversing course cedes those gains to China.
