Instagram Rolls Out Private, Temporary Notes for Reels and Posts

Jul. 19, 2024

Instagram has announced a bunch of new features and improvements that are coming to the app. These features include a new temporary notes feature for Instagram Reels and the ability to add multiple songs to your Reels. The platform is also making a conscious effort to study the app’s effect on teenagers. Here’s a complete breakdown of it.

Temporary Notes On Reels

You might have already used the Notes feature, but now it is also expanding to Reels and grid posts. It’s available from the Share menu. The new Instagram feature lets you create temporary notes which will disappear after three days. Before sharing the note, you can pick who can see it: your followers whom you follow back, or close friends. You can also tag your friends to let them know you’ve left them a note.

Consider it as a way to privately comment on a post. Even the creators won’t be able to see these notes left by others. But they can choose to turn off this option completely.

Reel creators often find it limiting that you can choose only one song per Reel. Instagram is fixing that issue as announced in anupdate. The platform will now let you add more than one song to a single Reel. This will make room for more creative content on the platform, as you can sync every transition with a different song.

Moving away from app features, Instagram is opening up its data to a select number of researchers. This will help to study the effects of the app on the mental health of teenagers and young adults. This is a partnership program with the Centre for Open Science, as shared by theirpost on X.

The researchers will have access to six months of data including how many accounts a teen follows, how much they use Instagram, their account settings, and more. However, it won’t include account-specific details. This data will produce independent studies about the relationship between platforms like Instagram and how they influence the well-being and thoughts of teenagers.

These new features are coming sooner than you expect, and some of you might already have access to it. On the one hand, Instagram is adding more tools to allow creators to create more engaging content. And on the other, it is helping with the research of the platform’s effects on the individual’s mentality. What do you think about these new features? Let us know in the comments.

As a tech journalist, I dive into the ever-evolving tech landscape with a particular interest for smartphones, apps, and gaming. With a passion for sharing insights, my articles blend expertise with a friendly touch—think of me as your friendly neighborhood tech support.