Instagram is working on a new feature to offer its users a more private and personal sharing experience: ‘Flipside’. This new feature allows users to share content only with a group of friends they specify, thus making personal sharing even more private.
The ‘Flipside’ feature allows users to create a second photo grid separate from the main photo grid. This second grid is set so that only friends selected by the user can be seen. Thus, users can manage both general and more specific content separately. When users have access to a person’s ‘Flipside’, they can see a key icon in that person’s profile grid.
This feature is seen as part of Instagram’s effort to offer its users the opportunity to appeal to a more limited and focused audience. Instagram, which had previously taken a similar step with the ‘close friends’ feature, is now expanding this approach with ‘Flipside’. However, as Instagram president Adam Mosseri stated, this feature can be considered as an additional alternative to existing approaches, and it is not yet clear whether the company will offer this feature to the end user.
This new step by Instagram aims to encourage users to produce and share more content in a period when they share less. For Instagram, which derives a large portion of its advertising revenue from users’ streams, it is important for users to interact more and spend more time on the platform.
The ‘Flipside’ feature can be considered as a reflection of Instagram’s efforts to enrich the user experience by allowing users to more easily manage content suitable for their different social circles. Although the initial reactions of users were mixed, this innovation of Instagram once again emphasizes the importance of private areas and personalized content sharing in the social media world. This new feature may be an attractive alternative, especially for young and privacy-conscious users.