A new feature just launched on Instagram, and it’s about to make Close Friends way closer.
On Thursday, the Meta-owned app introduced the ability to restrict your live broadcast to your Close Friends list only. You can still go live with up to three people, but they must all be in your Close Friends circle.
It’s cool to be able to control who sees what you post in any format, but I’m unsure what this might be used for specifically. Instagram told TechCrunch that users could use it to “share what’s on your mind, spontaneously catch up with friends, share memes, plan trips, do homework together, or just hang out casually in real-time.”
But there are already really great apps and platforms out there that allow you to do those things better. We share memes and plan trips in group chats, we do homework together over FaceTime, and we hang out casually in real life in real-time. So, this new update does feel somewhat like a solution looking for a problem.
Live broadcasts, a feature that was launched in 2016, are predominantly used by public figures, celebrities, and influencers to connect with fans. Regular users don’t really use the feature much because it implies an immediacy that isn’t always a natural parking with the platform. It seems like the platform is betting on the change, enticing regular folks to use the feature as social media users become more and more interested in individualized and private ways to connect.
If you want to try it out for yourself, click the “+” button to share on Instagram and scroll over to live. At the top of your screen, it will say something like “Share with Followers” with a down arrow. Click that, choose “Close Friends,” and start recording to go live.
