Instagram is a content consumption platform where users can watch photos, videos, and memes and share them with friends. However, with the entire nation in lockdown for 21-days, Instagram has come up with a way to engage you while letting you interact with your friends. The feature is called Co-Watching. It lets friends on a video chat browse through a feed together. The feed contains posts which one user has Liked or Saved. It will also show posts that Instagram recommends.
With the new feature, friends can scroll through posts, discuss them or simply have a laugh and come up with a new way of engaging on the platform. This could lead to people spending more time on the platform, which works well in its favour.
According to the Instagram blog, “To help people stay connected, we’ve launched media sharing, a new feature that allows you to view Instagram posts together with your friends over video chat. You can start a video chat by tapping the video chat icon in the Direct inbox or in an existing Direct thread, then view saved, liked and suggested photos/videos by tapping the photo icon in the bottom left corner in an ongoing video chat.”
In addition, Instagram has also launched a “Stay Home” sticker. According to the social networking platform, “Any accounts you follow who use the sticker will be added to a shared Instagram story, allowing you to see how others are practising social distancing at this time”.
Instagram has also launched new stickers to help people share accurate COVID-19 information in Stories. Instagram says that “These new features include reminders to wash your hands, distance yourself from others and more. These will be available in the camera in the coming days.”