Instagram is testing a new feature that allows users to add music to their Feed posts similar to Instagram Stories and Reels with a small percentage of global users.
Users can pick from a wide variety of music from the Insta music library to add to their posts alongside photos and videos. The feature is being tested out with select users in India, Brazil, and Turkey.
“Music plays an instrumental role in enabling people to share, connect and express themselves on Instagram. With this test, Instagram hopes to give its community a way to add a soundtrack to their Feed photos like they can with Reels and Stories already,” Instagram said in a statement as quoted by an HT Tech report.
Feature functionality
Users for whom the feature will be available will be able to see an “Add Music” option when they want to add audio to a post. They can click on the same, search for specific songs in the “Search” field or look for music in the “Trending” or “For You” sections of the prompt. They can then select a song as well as clip duration and length of time in seconds. They can click on “Done” and then “Share” the same.
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When a user clicks on the song used in posts, they will be led to an audio page that showcases all Feed posts that have used that particular song.
The photo-sharing platform will decide whether to expand the rollout of the feature based on the feedback from users.
Threads to be shut down
Separately, Instagram is shutting down its standalone messaging app Threads by the end of December 2021, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.
Users of the app will receive an in-app notification for the same beginning November 23 which will direct them to return to Instagram for messaging.
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Threads was introduced in 2019, built upon Instagram, that lets users share pictures and other content with their lists of “close friends” on the app. The app was launched to help people better communicate with their ‘close friends’ on its photo-sharing platform.
The decision to shut down the app was taken after many popular features of the app such as automatic captions and status have either been rolled out or are now rolling out to Instagram. The company would like to better focus its messaging efforts by not splitting its attention between two different apps, as per the report.
