Instagram brings Close Friends to posts and reels

Instagram’s close friends feature is one of the most helpful features of the app. It lets you share content with a trusted group of people. Until now, it let you share stories or notes with a select group of people, but the feature is expanding to posts and reels.

Instagram now lets you limit posts and reels to Close Friends

Instagram is expanding its Close Friends feature to include feed Posts and Reels, allowing users to share more personal content with a smaller, more trusted audience. This feature was reported to be in the testing phase earlier, and now it comes live. Before you ask, what does it look like and how can you limit posts and reels to close friends? There we go.

To share a feed post or Reel with your Close Friends, tap the Audience button when creating the post, select Close Friends and then tap Share. Posts or Reels shared with Close Friends will have a green star icon.

Importantly, the Close Friends list remains consistent across Instagram features. However, Instagram is exploring additional methods for users to share content with a more intimate audience.

Last month, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri hinted at experiments enabling users to share Stories with specific followers. This looks identical to Facebook’s long-standing feature of customizable friend lists for post-sharing.

Possibly, a new potential revenue stream for content creators on Instagram

Most content creators have pretty much tried all third-party apps to sell subscriptions to their Close Friends stories. Needless to say, Instagram even introduced a “Subscriptions” model for these accounts which is a pay-to-watch exclusive content. Instagram refuses taking extra fees but there are platform fees charged by Apple and Google. However, with posts and reels limited to close friends, creators can earn an extra penny (depending on how they monetize it).

This feature also addresses the need for a more private space on Instagram, often referred to as a “finsta” (an account specifically for friends). Many accounts, especially those run by public figures, fear posting private content but this clears the way for it.