It’s a feature that Instagram users have wanted for a while now and one that you might be surprised to find out it doesn’t have if you don’t use the platform regularly and that is the simple ability to share another user’s content to your feed.
Why is this a big deal? Well, for years, complaints about content theft on Instagram are among the top reasons some creators are big fans of Meta’s crown jewel. The reasoning here goes, for some people, “you can’t really blame people who steal content because they simply want to share it but can’t.”
While that may be true in rarefied cases, the inability to share another user’s content, in general, is somewhat stifling for a service that bills itself as social.
As with most new features, however, this will only roll out to a small group before (hopefully) making it to the wider Instagram world. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri describes its function as being similar to the ability to share stories. TechCrunch reports that this addition may be Meta’s response to a similar feature on TikTok that not only allows users to share content via repost, but also to add their own commentary or “spin” to whatever they shared. The website points out that, as with everything on social media, this is about increased engagement and “discovery” or the process of finding other creators to follow and watch.
Whatever the case, we know it’s a feature that people have wanted for a long time and we can’t wait to report on its official arrival. Indeed, it will probably be one of the more photographer-friendly updates in a while whether it is targeted at us or not.
We’d like to know your thoughts on this much-wanted feature for Instagram in the comments below. Do you think it will help curb content theft and the like? Let us know.
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