According to app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, Instagram is adding two new tools to its interface, allowing for a call feature in one's DMs.
Instagram's become a vast online hub for communication as well as just uploading pictures and videos. This online space has now become a hub for sharing content with each other, bonding over interests, and escapism as a whole. Calling Instagram the new Facebook would hardly be an exaggeration. It even has more long term viability when compared to the social network, owing to its userbase of younger individuals. The DM culture itself can also be heavily linked to Instagram, owing to this very younger generation’s reliance on communication via messaging.
Instagram's new tools look to further facilitate that very communication, allowing users to set up calls with one another. However, the calls come with a limitation to them. They must be accompanied by the forwarding of some sort of media. As a matter of fact, the DM Call feature can only be accessed from the pop-up that appears when sending someone material. It is being marketed as a way to let users watch something together, as opposed to conducting a more conventional call. Then again, such a limited use might just be justified in and of itself. Millenials, and Gen Z to an even greater extent, are known for their reliance on applications such as FaceTime for communication. And much of that communication itself is also different from that of past generations, with the more rambling professional calls having been replaced by people talking for short exchanges. Sharing stories, experiences, or even interesting minutiae of the day. Therefore, while limiting a call to the likes of reacting to memes together might come off as limiting, this is something that Instagram’s userbase could possibly roll with.
Another addition to supplement this feature is the creation of chat groups. Yes, you are not limited to simply sharing a solid chuckle with a single friend, you can do it with an entire group. This is a feature that's prevalent in almost every chat-based or call based application. WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, FaceTime, the list goes on. The inclusion of groups is, simply put, a no-brainer that really elevates the previous call feature as a whole.
Ultimately, the inclusion of both features is Instagram truly recognizing its audience as well as the current atmosphere. It's coming to grips with a culture that actively relies on communication just as much as the generations prior to it did; simply with a bit more virtual flair. Instagram's enabling of that generation with such additions means that, where most big companies usually fail, it truly understands the userbase and actively plays to their tune accordingly.
Read next: Instagram Is Working On Allowing Users To Schedule Livestreams On The Platform
Instagram's become a vast online hub for communication as well as just uploading pictures and videos. This online space has now become a hub for sharing content with each other, bonding over interests, and escapism as a whole. Calling Instagram the new Facebook would hardly be an exaggeration. It even has more long term viability when compared to the social network, owing to its userbase of younger individuals. The DM culture itself can also be heavily linked to Instagram, owing to this very younger generation’s reliance on communication via messaging.
Instagram's new tools look to further facilitate that very communication, allowing users to set up calls with one another. However, the calls come with a limitation to them. They must be accompanied by the forwarding of some sort of media. As a matter of fact, the DM Call feature can only be accessed from the pop-up that appears when sending someone material. It is being marketed as a way to let users watch something together, as opposed to conducting a more conventional call. Then again, such a limited use might just be justified in and of itself. Millenials, and Gen Z to an even greater extent, are known for their reliance on applications such as FaceTime for communication. And much of that communication itself is also different from that of past generations, with the more rambling professional calls having been replaced by people talking for short exchanges. Sharing stories, experiences, or even interesting minutiae of the day. Therefore, while limiting a call to the likes of reacting to memes together might come off as limiting, this is something that Instagram’s userbase could possibly roll with.
Another addition to supplement this feature is the creation of chat groups. Yes, you are not limited to simply sharing a solid chuckle with a single friend, you can do it with an entire group. This is a feature that's prevalent in almost every chat-based or call based application. WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, FaceTime, the list goes on. The inclusion of groups is, simply put, a no-brainer that really elevates the previous call feature as a whole.
Ultimately, the inclusion of both features is Instagram truly recognizing its audience as well as the current atmosphere. It's coming to grips with a culture that actively relies on communication just as much as the generations prior to it did; simply with a bit more virtual flair. Instagram's enabling of that generation with such additions means that, where most big companies usually fail, it truly understands the userbase and actively plays to their tune accordingly.
Read next: Instagram Is Working On Allowing Users To Schedule Livestreams On The Platform
