How to create a close friends list on Instagram

When you share something on social media, particularly on social media sites like Facebook, you may not be sharing it with your entire friends’ list or all your followers. Facebook lets you selectively share posts and Instagram has just gotten a new close friends feature that lets you create a group of people to quickly share your Instagram story with. Here’s how you can create a close friends list on Instagram.

Close friends list on Instagram

Open Instagram and go to your profile tab. Tap the hamburger icon at the top right and from the navigation drawer that opens, tap Close Friends. Search for the friends you want to add to the list and when you’ve selected all the ones you want to add, tap Done.

The Close friends list lets you control the audience for your Instagram story. When you’re about to share something to your story, you can quickly tap the Close Friends option at the bottom left and share it with only the people in your close friends list.

When you share a post with just your close friends, they will see the ‘Close friends’ label on their side as well. This should, technically, discourage them from screenshoting and sharing the post elsewhere however, if your post does end up being shared with the wrong person the Close Friends label ought to help narrow who might have done it.

Close friends is a great feature and Instagram should allow users to create more than just one quick sharing group. It goes without saying that users tend to segregate who they share certain posts with. Some posts are meant for everyone, some for a few close friends, and some only for family, while others are meant for everyone except the family. Instagam can replicate the feature from Facebook, or it can simplify it to suit the app’s sharing method better.

This feature is available on both iOS and Android however, it does not seem to have rolled out to all users. The roll out appears to be user specific and not regionally restricted. We haven’t been able to figure out a way to force the feature so if you don’t see it yet, you’re going to have to wait until the roll out is complete. Make sure you keep the Instagram app up to date. The change log for the app may state that it will add the new feature however it won’t appear in the app unless Instagram decides to enable it for your profile.