Instagram’s new “Friend Map” feature, which may reveal the position of your friends on a separate display in the app, has been in development for some time and is now being tested live.
Instagram Friend Map.
As stated in this summary, Instagram’s new “Friend Map” is intended to allow your friends to see both where you are and where you’ve been, with any posts and/or Stories tagged with a location automatically added to the map display.
You’ll also be able to add Notes to any location or venue, allowing you to share opinions and thoughts with your friends based on your experiences.
This could increase engagement and interaction, yet Instagram is also being cautious about the move due to potential privacy issues.
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Instagram claims that the Friend Map, which is presently being tested with a select number of users, will only be available to share with those on your “Close Friends” list, or mutual followers in the app. The functionality will not allow you to share your location publicly or tag your material.
That’s the same as Snapchat’s Snap Map, which should alleviate some of the privacy worries. However, there is little that Instagram or Snapchat can do if someone accidentally adds a friend who turns out to be a predator and gains access to a user’s location in the app.
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As a result, this product carries an inherent risk, which is likely to outweigh the advantages for many users. However, for individuals who are careful about their connections, it might be a useful tool for organizing in-person meet-ups and making Instagram more sociable, building on the app’s growing popularity with direct messages.
The intended demographic for this is, of course, younger users, whom Instagram is desperate to keep against increased competition from TikTok and Snapchat. Young users are increasingly interacting with the app through DMs rather than posting to the main feed or Stories (or Reels, which is primarily focused on entertainment rather than social connection), and Instagram has been attempting to capitalize on this with features such as Notes, which it claims have been extremely popular among young users.
That more intimate involvement leads to prospects for add-ons such as Friend Map to facilitate even deeper connection within the application. And if it works for Snap, which recently hit a new milestone of 850 million active users, it may be popular on Instagram as well, tapping into these changing usage habits.
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As previously stated, Instagram has been developing its “Friend Map” feature for some time, with the first pieces found in testing in November last year. More sophisticated screenshots were revealed in February, when Instagram first stated that it was creating the display.
Some people have already seen it go live.
So, will it be a hit? I understand the reasoning of adapting to the usage habits of teenagers, who are significantly more socially involved than most adult users. However, it is not without risks, which I doubt Meta would have been able to overlook.
However, this is simply a test for the time being, and IG will keep a careful eye on this particular piece as it watches first usage.
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