Instagram is extending its Close Friends functionality from Stories and Notes to encompass feed posts and Reels. This expansion allows users to share Reels and feed posts with a more exclusive and trusted audience rather than reaching everyone following them.
The Close Friends list will remain consistent and applicable to all Instagram features, ensuring a unified and tailored sharing experience for the chosen group of individuals. This means that whether you’re sharing Stories, Notes, feed posts, or Reels, the selected Close Friends will consistently have access to your content, fostering a more intimate and personalized connection across the various facets of the platform.
How to Share Instagram Posts Exclusively with Close Friends?
Sharing a Reel or feed post exclusively with your Close Friends on Instagram is a simple process. Follow these step-by-step instructions:
- Create your desired Instagram post or Reel, adding all necessary content and elements.
- Tap the Audience button to reveal the audience options available.
- Among the choices, select “Close Friends” to specify that your post or Reel is intended only for this exclusive group.
- Once you’ve selected Close Friends, locate and tap the “Share” button to publish your content.
- After sharing, identify your post or Reel by the distinctive green star label, indicating its exclusivity to Close Friends.
Instagram stated in a release, “We hope this gives you more ways to be yourself on Instagram, offering greater flexibility in determining the audience for your content.”
Instagram introduced the close friends feature back in 2018 to allow users to share Stories with select groups, providing a handy tool for sharing content with a more limited audience. The extension of this feature to include posts and Reels on the platform could result in fewer or more updates from users on your timeline. This expansion becomes particularly relevant as X has discontinued its Close Friends-like Circles feature, which previously enabled users to post to a smaller, curated audience.
Moreover, Instagram has been exploring alternative methods for users to share content with more selective audiences. In a recent update, Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, disclosed that his team has been testing a feature enabling users to share Stories with distinct subsets of their followers. This approach aligns with Facebook’s long-standing practice, where users can create various lists of friends and then select the specific list with whom they want to share a post.
