Ever wanted to send an Insta Story of your face-mask selfie (or drunk selfie on a bad Tinder date) to just your best friends instead of your entire Instagram following? Well, starting today, you can. Behold the app's newest feature: Close Friends.
Think: Myspace Top 8 and Snapchat Best Friends, but less petty. Close Friends is a private list of your inner circle, which makes it easier to share your content with the people you like the best. But don't worry — you're the only one who can see your list, and you can change it at any time.
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So how does it work? The list lives in the right-hand panel of your profile, where you can find your Saved posts. To access it, simply click on the green "Add" button next to your friend's handle to include them on your list. Now when you go to post a Story, you'll find a green-starred "Close Friends" button on the bottom left corner of your screen that you can press to send your personal content to your handpicked group — for the moments you want to share but not with your entire following (including you know, your mom's friend from college or your aunt or your boss).
Until now, users have been able to take photos or videos and DM them to friends, but this feature changes the game by turning the content from DM into a Story. If you're on someone's Close Friends list, their photo will show up in your Stories lineup with a green ring, and their Story will have a green badge marking it as a Close Friends Story.
The feature is rolling out globally today, and comes on the heels of Instagram's new Shopping update and the app's recent announcement that it is taking steps to remove inauthentic activity on the platform.