Instagram “Reposts” Undergoing Testing

Instagram is once again trying a new feature that is similar to other social networks. Instagram acknowledged testing of “reposts” to put someone else’s material into your own timeline, according to sources. It’s comparable to retweets on Twitter or reshares on Tumblr and Facebook, and it’s also being tested on TikTok.

New ‘Repost’ Feature

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant who submitted photographs in a Twitter thread on Wednesday, discovered the “repost” capability. However, Alessandro Paluzzi discovered it in development in May, indicating that Instagram has been working on it for some time.

Sharing another user’s post for your own followers to view is nothing new for Instagram users. Users may share public content with their followers, but only to their Instagram Story or through direct messaging. The test would now allow users to share a post on their feeds without having to screenshot it, republish it, or go via another source.

Aside from reposts inside your own feed, we’ve observed on my iPhone that Instagram’s cross-platform sharing choices have changed similar to most clone it features. It’s now prioritizing sharing to Snapchat, Messenger, or WhatsApp over direct-to-DM sharing, which is similar to TikTok’s strategy.

Instagram scaled back a test that would have shifted the app toward an AI-powered stream of full-screen images and video as part of its seeming gradual transformation into TikTok, but it isn’t giving up on the attempt. Another recent experiment allows Instagram users to pick and label several posts as “not interested” in order to mold the recommendation algorithm to their tastes.