Instagram is rolling out Instagram Map, a new feature that lets users share their most recent active location with others and discover location-based content. The Meta-owned social network is also launching reposts, and making its “Friends” tab in Reels available globally.
With its new map feature, Instagram is copying yet another popular feature from Snapchat, after cloning the app’s core Stories functionality back in 2016. Instagram is coming for Snap Map’s crown, a feature that recently surpassed 400 million monthly active users and remains one of the app’s core offerings.
Instagram notes that location sharing is off by default on Instagram Map, and a user’s location only updates when they open the app, meaning it doesn’t provide real-time location updates. Snap Map, on the other hand, allows users to choose whether their location is updated only when they open the app or in real time.
It’s worth noting that Instagram does offer real-time location sharing via DMs (direct messages). However, unlike Apple’s Find My and Snap Map, which let you share your location with others indefinitely, Instagram only lets users do so for up to one hour.
Image Credits:Instagram
Instagram says the new map feature will make it easier for friends to coordinate and link up for hangouts. It also lets users explore location-based content that their friends and favorite creators have shared or engaged with. For example, if your friend attends a nearby music festival and posts a story while there, it will appear on the map. Similarly, if a creator posts a reel about a new restaurant in your city, you’ll be able to discover it on Instagram Map.
Regardless of whether you choose to share your location, you can use the map to explore location-based content, Instagram says.
The map also allows users to leave short messages, or “Notes,” on the map for others to see. Instagram Notes are currently the short messages that appear at the top of your direct messaging feed, but with the launch of Instagram Map, users can now post these short updates on the map.
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Although Instagram is certainly taking on Snapchat with this new feature, it also has the opportunity to appeal to people who were fans of Zenly, a social map app that Snap acquired and then shut down in 2023.
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