Instagram has confirmed that it is in the middle of testing a new feature on the social media app. The feature, which mimics features of a number of other social media platforms, will allow Instagram users to share a post made by another user. This feature will work like the share button on Facebook, retweet function on Twitter, and similar functions in LinkedIn.
The repost feature was first noticed by social media researcher, Alessandro Paluzzi, in May, when the feature was still in development. Social media consultant, Matt Navarra, got a look at what the feature would look like, and tweeted screenshots in a thread which was posted on Twitter.
Prior to now, the existence of the feature has been a rumour, however, a Meta spokesperson confirmed that the company is truly working on the feature.
“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 spokesperson said.
Although, using the “repost” feature is not new to Instagram users, they have been limited to the ability to share posts only to their Story, or to another user via Direct Message, except when done with the use of a third-party app. With this feature under test, Instagram users will be able to share a post to their own profile. The shared post will count as theirs, without losing the credits required by the original creator of the post.
The Repost feature will be in the share menu of a post, where followers will be able to respond to the reposted content. Meanwhile, the reposts tab will be shown in a user’s profile, which followers can see. It is also likely that users will be able to add their thoughts to a repost before sharing it – more like Twitter’s “Quote tweet.”
Lately, Instagram has been making changes and additional features to its app. Some of these features are succeeding in gradually changing Instagram from the media sharing platform that it was initially designed to be, to more of a mimicking app trailing a competitive path with popular video-sharing apps like TikTok and Snapchat.
Read also: Twitter to launch “Edit Tweet” feature later this month
The ability to repost contents began with Twitter’s retweet feature, and many platforms have gone ahead to introduce similar features. TikTok has also added such feature to its app, however, with TikTok, the shared content is not listed in the page of the sharer, it is only visible to their follower’s timeline.
