Facebook-owned message sharing giant, Instagram has rolled out GIF sharing feature for Direct Messages on Thursday. Apart from that, the photo-sharing application has also been reportedly spotted testing three new features which might be on the way for the users. Among these new features, the GIF sharing for DMs is the most notable one, second up, Instagram is also rumoured to be testing a function which will allow users to repost pictures to their feeds and not just stories. Additionally, Instagram is testing a secret hashtags feature. Another feature which is in the talks is geo-fencing, which will allow users to limit the reach of a post depending on regions.
GIF for DMs
Before this, Instagram had only rolled out support for GIFs in stories in collaboration with Giphy. Now the photo sharing giant will also extend GIF support to DMs as well. Users will be able to choose from the extensive GIFs which Giphy offers. Also, they will be able to send a random GIF if they wish by tapping the "random" option.
Reposting on Feed
As per a new report by The Verge, Instagram has been spotted testing a new “regram” feature which will allow the users to share other users’ posts on their feed and not just on stories. It is worth noting that only a little while ago, Instagram had rolled out the “share to story” feature which allowed users to share posts on stories. Similarly, the “share to feed” option will come up on the upper right side of the post and will grant the user the capability to repost the picture easily.
As per Instagram Co-founder, Kevin Systrom’s statement, the regram feature has been debated a lot inside the company, and the team is working on a solution to develop an appropriate solution. Also, Instagram has said that it would initially launch the feature for select users and business account owners.
Secret Hashtags and Geofencing
Tech developer, Jane Manchun Wong also spotted the new secret hashtags feature on Instagram, wherein the hashtags will be grouped on the upper side of the photo, right beside the location tag so that the caption doesn’t get cluttered with too many hashtags.
Geofencing is yet another feature in the pipeline for Instagram which will allow the users to limit their content to certain countries, geographical location or regions. A "Choose Locations" option in the story controls menu will enable the users to tweak with these settings.
