Now your friends can see
exactly how much time you spend lurking on Instagram.
Instagram announced Thursday
the rollout of a new feature that will let your followers see when you're using
the app. The concept is similar to Facebook Messenger: when someone you follow
or have previously messaged with, is "active" in the app, Instagram
will show a small green bubble next to their name to let you know that they're
online
Instagram explained that the
goal of the feature is to make it easier for users to chat within the app.
"This update gives you
the ability to have more of those realtime conversations while giving you the
control to hide your status altogether," the company wrote in a blog post.
But while it makes chatting
a little more immediate, it may also push users to spend even more time in the
app. Instagram users already swap a ton of messages, and adding these status
indicators will likely only encourage more messaging.
Instagram's CEO has said the
company is working on features to fight tech addiction and ensure that users'
time in the app is "positive
and intentional."
If this all sounds a little
creepy to you, don't worry. You can opt to turn the feature off entirely.
Just go to "activity status" in the app's main settings to disable
activity status (when disabled, you won't be able to view which of your friends
are online, either)
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