Instagram is rolling out several new features for users around the world. The Meta-owned social media platform has announced three new features for Notes to make it easier to publish new posts and connect with friends. A limit interactions feature has also been introduced that allows users to not receive messages, comments and tags from followers who have not been added as close friends. The platform said the feature was designed to protect teenagers from potential abusers and harassers. Notably, Threads also received a TweetDeck-style display for its desktop app.
Instagram is rolling out new features for Notes
The Notes feature launched in December 2022 on Instagram as a new way to share thoughts with friends. The feature exists in the Direct Messages (DM) section at the top of all messages. In this section, users can post their own short messages and read their friends’ messages.
On Thursday, the social media platform added three new ways for people to interact with the feature. The first is Notes Prompt. Users will see the questions and thoughts asked when they enter Notes and can post their Notes in response to questions. Instagram is also introducing quick Likes for Notes. Users will be able to quickly react to their friends’ and followers’ notes with likes by double-tapping the note.
Finally, users can now tag followers in notes by using the ‘@’ symbol in front of their username. Users mentioned in the note will also receive a notification about it, which they can tap to reply directly to it. Instagram says these new ways to interact will “make it easier to express yourself, spark conversations and connect with friends!”
Instagram interaction limit feature
The social media platform has also introduced a security feature to protect users from instances of potential bullying and trolling. This feature called Limit Interactions will allow users to not receive DMs, post comments or tags from certain users. This feature can be set for a temporary period of between one day and up to four weeks.
Users can limit their interactions to Close Friends or simply pause them for recent followers and unfollowed accounts. Highlighting the feature in a post, Instagram host Adam Mosseri said it can help a soccer player who just missed a penalty kick avoid harassment or protect a teenager from online bullies.
To activate the feature, users will need to go to Settings and activity > Limit interactions. There, users will find options to choose whether the above will be limited or only new comments on posts and chats will be hidden, who will be limited and the duration.
