Instagram brings reposts to main feed in bid to boost sharing
Reposts bring a new way to interact, but will it improve the feed or clutter it?
Instagram has officially launched its long-awaited repost feature, letting users share public Reels and feed posts directly to their followers' feeds. The move, which has been in testing for over a year, aims to make it easier to connect with friends by sharing content users already enjoy, rather than creating something new every time.
Reposted content will appear in a dedicated tab on the user's profile, along with their original posts. Reposts are also distributed to friends' and followers' main feeds, giving greater visibility to the original creators.
The feature could offer small and emerging creators a chance to reach more people. If someone reposts their Reel or post, it might be recommended to a whole new set of followers—even those who don’t follow the original account.
How Reposts will appear on your profile and the main feed. | Image credit — Meta"
Users can add a short message to the repost using a thought bubble interface, offering a quick way to comment or react. To repost, you simply tap the repost icon on a Reel or feed post, type an optional note, and hit save.
While reposting content is common on other platforms like X (formerly Twitter) or TikTok, Instagram had long resisted adding this functionality outside of Stories. With this shift, Meta is signaling that it wants Instagram to feel more like a two-way street for engagement, not just a place to broadcast personal content.
Beyond reposts, Instagram is also adding two other features meant to promote connection. The first is a location-sharing Map that lets users opt in to sharing their recent activity with selected friends. The second is a new Friends tab inside Reels, which highlights content your friends are engaging with. Both are rolling out now, with the Map limited to US users initially.
It’s worth noting that TikTok has long supported similar community-centric discovery tools, including reposts and location-based content. With these updates, Instagram is playing a bit of catch-up, though it’s doing so with more user controls and clearer privacy options.
As for whether reposts will change how people use Instagram, it depends on user behavior. Giving people another way to interact with content might help liven up the feed, but it could also lead to more noise if not used thoughtfully. Still, for those tired of algorithmic randomness, seeing what friends find worth resharing could feel refreshingly human.
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