Is Instagram about photos, or videos, or messaging? The obvious answer: all three, and that third prong is getting a big new feature.
It’s called ‘broadcast channels‘, uses tech from sister service Facebook Messenger, and is described by Instagram as “a public, one-to-many messaging tool for creators to invite all of their followers into and engage with their most interested fans”.
Clearly, this will be of interest to musicians and their teams who’ve built their fan communities on Instagram. Creators will be able to post text, photo, video, voice notes and polls to their broadcast channels, with followers able to react and answer those polls.
These channels won’t just be an Instagram thing in the longer term either: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said they will expand to Messenger and Facebook “in the coming months”.
The first creators to get access to the new feature are largely influencers and sports stars, although rapper Flau’jae is also on the list. Broadcast channels can also be used with Instagram’s subscriptions feature, making them only accessible to fans who are paying.
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