Instagram Now Lets You Choose Your Close Friends

While the idea of having a best friend you do everything with is more associated with childhood, there’s no denying friends come in many forms. You may have close friends, friends you just occasionally hang out, work friends, and even friends with benefits.

Plenty of social networks have tried to help us organize our friends into lists over the years. Facebook had its “Lists,” and Google+ wanted you to sort everyone you knew into “Circles”. And now Instagram is trying something similar with what it calls Close Friends.

Create an Inner Circle of Instagram Friends

Instagram’s new Close Friends feature allows you to create an inner circle of friends. You’ll get to choose exactly who makes the cut, and can add and remove people at will. And once you have your Close Friends picked out, you can share Stories just with them.

On the Instagram Blog, the company suggests that “sometimes what you want to share isn’t for everyone”. Therefore, Close Friends gives you “the flexibility to share more personal moments with a smaller group that you choose”.

How to Manage Your Close Friends on Instagram

Managing your Close Friends is pretty straightforward. To begin, open the Stories camera and take a photo or video. You’ll then notice a green circle with a white star in it. Click this, and you’ll be taken to your Close Friends List to populate it with people.

Share with Your Close Friends on Instagram Stories

Starting today, you can make a close friends list and share stories with just the people you've added. Learn more about this update here: https://ift.tt/2PcXJPP

Posted by Instagram on Thursday, November 29, 2018

After this you’ll be able to manage your Close Friends by going to your profile and clicking “Close Friends”. No one can request to be added, and only you can see your list. You’ll be able to see if you’re on someone else’s list by the appearance of a green badge.

Close Friends only works within Stories. So, when you share to Stories, you’ll have the option to only share with the people on your Close Friends list. This should prevent you feeling the need not to share something for fear of offending one person.

The Potential for Brands and Celebrities

While Close Friends is intended for regular Instagram users, it also has potential for brands, celebrities, and influencers. These lists could act like fan clubs, and be treated like a Patreon-style reward for the most loyal members of the clique.

Image Credit: ZenJazzyGeek/Flickr

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