Instagram Introduces "Re-Share" Function for Reel and Regular Posts
Instagram has recently unveiled a series of new features aimed at improving the user experience and fostering deeper engagement. These updates, introduced around August 2025, include Reposts, a Friends tab in Reels, and an interactive map, each designed to enhance content discovery and social connection in distinct ways.
Reposts are a new addition that allows users to reshare public Reels and feed posts directly to their profiles. This is made possible through a new repost icon near posts and reels. Reposted items appear in followers' feeds and in a dedicated "Reposts" tab on the user's profile. This feature is similar to TikTok's resharing and aims to boost viral spread and content visibility while allowing users to curate shared content on their profiles. Users can also add floating comments on reposts to provide context or opinions. Reposts can be undone at any time.
The Friends tab in Reels is accessible at the top of the Reels tab and shows public content that a user's friends have interacted with, as well as personalized recommendations from "Blends" users have started. It facilitates social conversation by highlighting reel activity within a trusted circle. Instagram has also added privacy controls for this feature, enabling users to hide their own likes and comments or mute activity bubbles from certain people, with options to limit who can see their activity or opt out entirely. This feature encourages users to engage more closely and discuss shared interests discovered through their friends' reel interactions.
The interactive map feature, also introduced at the same time, allows users to view locations shared in posts and connect with friends through geography-based discovery. This map integrates users' location-sharing with social feeds, making it easier to find nearby content and interact with local communities or places of interest, which strengthens location-based social connections. Privacy settings allow users to control location visibility to address any concerns.
These updates impact Instagram's ecosystem by enhancing content discovery through repost amplification and friend-based recommendations in the Friends tab, increasing social connection by centering shared activities and location-based interactions, and providing user control over privacy and visibility in all interactions, supporting a safer social experience.
In summary, these updates deepen engagement both by broadening how content circulates via reposts and by tightening social ties through the Friends tab and interactive map, making discovery more personalized and socially meaningful. The new features in Reels are expected to improve the way users share content within their personal networks, potentially increasing user engagement and activity. The social media platform Reels introduces a new "Friends" tab, and the expanded map experience is meant to enhance content discovery and sharing, designed to blur the lines between content discovery and social connection. The changes to Reels aim to provide a more integrated experience for content discovery and social connection, with the new "Friends" tab intended for discovering and sharing content tied to personal networks.
- The new Reposts feature on Instagram, similar to TikTok's resharing, allows users to curate shared content on their profiles by directly resharing public Reels and feed posts, increasing content visibility and boosting viral spread.
- The Friends tab in Instagram's Reels, accessible at the top of the Reels tab, facilitates social conversation by highlighting reel activity within a trusted circle and provides user control over privacy and visibility, encouraging users to engage more closely and discuss shared interests discovered through their friends' reel interactions.
