Hello Instagram Direct! A new way to send photo and video messages

Something new from the popular Instagram service – Instagram Direct. Send Instagram posts directly to your friends!

This from Instagram…

From how you capture photos and videos to the way you start conversations through likes and comments, we built Instagram Direct to feel natural to the Instagram experience you already know. When you open Instagram, you’ll now see a new icon in the top right corner of your home feed. Tap it to open your inbox where you’ll see photos and videos that people have sent to you. To send a photo or video to specific people, tap the camera button to enter the same simple photo or video capture and editing screens. At the top of the share screen, you’ll see the option to share with your followers (“Followers”) or to send to specific people (“Direct”). To send using Direct, tap the names of the people you want to send your photo or video to, write your caption, tap “send” and you’re done.

After sending, you’ll be able to find out who’s seen your photo or video, see who’s liked it and watch your recipients commenting in real time as the conversation unfolds.

Photos and videos that you receive from people you follow will appear immediately. If someone you’re not following sends you a photo or video on Instagram, it will go to your requests so you can decide if you want to view it.

To learn more about Instagram Direct, check out help.instagram.com.

Visit our Instagram Direct FAQ: help.instagram.com/400205900081854

Source: Instagram Blog

And this from research firm, Ovum…

“The new messaging feature for Instagram is a clear move by Facebook to keep users engaged with its photo sharing service, which is seeing increased competition on all fronts. Instagram is being threatened by more direct rivals such as Vine and Snapchat, but is also seeing indirect competition from popular messaging services like WhatsApp, where users are spending more time at the expense of Instagram and also Facebook itself.  This is the last thing that Facebook wants as it’s working hard to drive advertising on Instagram in a bid to monetize the service. A drop off in engagement on Instagram will damage this objective. This is where new features like Direct are meant to help Instagram. The injection of real-time communications into Instagram is a natural complement to the core photo sharing service, while the private groups feature will appeal to people that are either disenchanted with or wary of more open social broadcast platforms.”