Instagram has decided to improve the experience of its users by adding the ability to repost. The social media platform, which is like a simplified version of Facebook, places emphasis on mobile use and visual sharing and has been in existence for well over half a decade.
Instagram is finally coming to terms with the fact that people need to ‘repost’ content after all. The feature is coming with a very original name, “Repost.work.” and is yet to be released to the entirety of Instagram’s 1 billion+ users. Meta, the parent company, has confirmed that it intends to begin testing the repost feature with a select group of users shortly.
In an email to TechCrunch, a spokesperson for Instagram said, “We’re exploring the ability to reshare posts in Feed—similar to how you can reshare in Stories, so people can share what resonates with them, and so original creators are credited for their work.” We plan to test this soon with a small number of people.
The Repost feature is a much-needed one on the Instagram app because users have had to rely on third-party apps to repost Instagram content.
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Adding a repost feature would eliminate the need for workarounds when it comes to resharing posts. It’s worth noting that although you can currently share someone’s post in your story, this upcoming repost functionality will let users share posts in their feed.
With reposts, users no longer have to send posts they want to share with their friends and followers by sharing shortcuts to those posts on their stories (which expire after 24 hours). Instead, they can now directly repost the content on their feeds.
Once users repost content on Instagram to their feeds, it will be shown in a separate tab on their profiles. Their followers will be able to see them on a separate tab. And unlike Stories, Reposts do not have a 24-hour time limit and remain on the tab.
Instagram is likely aware that many of its users already use the Stories share feature and also use DMs to share posts with friends, and is now trying to give users a better way to share posts they like widely.
It’s possible that Twitter’s Retweet feature gave birth to the idea of reposting on social media, which has since spread to other sites.
Some app researchers say that Instagram is in competition with TikTok for a repost feature because TikTok has been testing its own version of Twitter’s retweet by adding a new “Repost” button that lets users share videos on the platform with their followers. But unlike a Twitter retweet, reposted videos on TikTok don’t appear on a user’s TikTok profiles, as they’re only sent out to your friends’ feeds.
In Instagram’s case, reposts will show up in your followers’ feeds and on your profile in the tab for reposts, as shown in the screenshot Navarra shared.
According to the screenshots Matt Navarra shared, Instagram users can find the repost option in the share menu. The screenshots also suggest that users will have the option to add their thoughts when resharing a post.
This feature holds similarities with Twitter’s retweet feature.
Instagram Reposts Tab on profiles?!
What’s dis Adam? pic.twitter.com/WayWCJGBfx
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) September 7, 2022
Instagram has been working on reposts for at least a few months now, as app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi spotted the feature in development in May.
The Instagram new feature
Instagram is also set to add a “tipping” feature – a method for users to show their appreciation for their favourite creators, which is more than just a view, like, or follow.
“Gifts” is a new monetization feature for creators on Instagram. This feature is solely for allowing creators to earn money through Reels, which Instagram has been pushing for quite some time.
“Gifts” is a brilliant way to encourage creators to make and distribute content on Reels. The feature will also promote Instagram Reels, making it an even more popular choice. Either way, Instagram comes out on top.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, confirmed the development. The company said that the tipping feature is just a prototype that hasn’t been tested outside of the company. This means that it could be entirely some time before the feature rolls out to the users – and that will come after extensive testing, both internally and with select groups of users.
Read also: Instagram Launches Payment feature in DM
This is not the first monetization tool to come to Instagram. Badges – a feature that lets fans purchase a badge for $1-5 each while a creator is live streaming on the app, and they can buy as many badges as they want up to $250/Live video – already has a presence on the platform. Facebook has a similar feature called Stars, which was later expanded to include live streams, on-demand videos, and Reels.
Instagram is not the first social media platform to propound tipping offerings. Twitter’s Tip Jar is one that comes to mind. Chinese upstart TikTok, with which Instagram has a strong rivalry, has its own tipping feature in Gifts.
About Instagram
Instagram is an American photo and video sharing social networking service founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and later acquired by American company Facebook Inc., now known as Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with preapproved followers. Users can browse other users’ content by tag and location, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed.