Instagram to Begin Testing of Twitter-Like Repost Feature Soon: Report

Instagram will soon begin testing a repost feature that is tipped to be a lot like the one available on Twitter, a report stated citing a spokesperson from the social media platform. The testing will apparently be done with a select number of Instagram users. The first mention of this feature surfaced last week when a social media consultant spotted it on Instagram Head Adam Mosseri’s profile and shared a screenshot. The development comes as Twitter is also reported to be working on adding support for sharing tweets on Instagram Stories.

TechCrunch reports that a spokesperson from the Meta-owned photo and video sharing platform has confirmed that it will soon start testing the repost feature with a small number of people. “We’re exploring the ability to reshare posts in [Instagram] Feed — similar to how you can reshare in Stories — so people can share what resonates with them, and so original creators are credited for their work,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Social media consultant and industry analyst Matt Navarra first spotted the feature and posted a screenshot that showed the Reposts Tab on Instagram head Adam Mosseri’s profiles. It suggested that the Report tab would appear on users’ profiles alongside the posts, reels, and tagged photos tabs. Two days later, Navarra posted another image, which briefly suggests how the feature is expected to work. The Repost tab on Instagram is likely to show all the reposts that users have reshared on their accounts.

Currently, you can repost a Reel or post in Instagram on your Stories and share it as a DM to your friends as well as groups. There is no particular way to reshare the post to your feeds like you can on Twitter, which recently added its own version of cross-platform reposting/ sharing feature on Android.

As per the new Twitter feature, Android users will be able to quickly share tweets directly to Instagram Stories and Snapchat. Earlier, they had to take a screenshot to post it on Instagram Stories while building on the clutter in the photos/ gallery app in smartphones during the process. The microblogging platform also announced support for sharing tweets directly on LinkedIn for both Android and iOS.