instagram
Bulletins

Instagram wants to make DMs more fun

The company added seven new features to make its messaging platform more engaging.

New Instagram DM features.

Some new DM features include music streaming integrations, sending polls and the ability to "quietly" send messages without notifying the receiver.

Image: Instagram

Instagram is making direct messages more fun to convince users to stick around. The Meta-owned photo-sharing app announced Thursday that it's adding a host of new features to make messaging "more fun and seamless." If users are connecting with friends on Instagram, maybe they're not opening TikTok quite as often.

Instagram is now letting users share 30-second previews of songs in DMs with a new music streaming integration. Users will be able to find clips on Apple Music and Amazon Music to start, with plans to integrate Spotify "coming soon," the company said in a blog post.

"As we announced at the end of last year, we're making more investments in messaging to help you connect with your closest friends in more fun and seamless ways," the company said.

Other new features include the ability to "quietly" send messages without notifying the receiver, creating polls in DMs and group chats and a "new lo-fi chat theme to make your conversations feel more personal." Instagram is also adding features that let users reply while they're browsing their feed, DM posts to other users more quickly by tapping and holding the share button and showing who is and isn't online to chat.

Instagram will first launch the features in "select countries" starting Thursday before rolling out globally.

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced in an Instagram post at the end of December that the company was planning on making improvements to its messaging platform, since messaging is the "primary way people connect online," but hadn't given any details on upcoming changes. Mosseri also said in the post that the company is doubling down on video, transparency around how Instagram works and focus on creators.

"We're going to have to rethink what Instagram is, because the world is changing quickly, and we're going to have to change with it," Mosseri said in the video.

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

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