Instagram’s new friends card: what it is, how it works and what you need to know

If you were a fan of Snapchat’s Snap Map, you will love the latest addition of Instagram.

Instagram’s Friends Card Rolls out in the US and it is designed to help you make closer contact with your friends and favorite makers.

As Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri It says, the social media platform wants more, well, to be social. “Instagram is not only a lean-back experience that is just fun and entertaining, but also a participating one,” he said in a reel.

But before you ask: Friends Map shows where your friends have been active on Instagram, instead of having your favorite maker à la Pokémon Go. There are also added security measures, says Instagram, with extra layers for teenagers.

So let’s turn out everything you need to know about the map of Instagram’s friends: what it is, how it works, whether it is also worth choosing and also safety reasons.

What is Instagram’s friends card?

The Friends Card is one Location sharing function This allows you to share your active Instagram location with selected friends – and see where your friends were last active.

So if you sign up, share the last place where you used the Instagram app.

As I have touched above, this is not a Find My iPhone-Type function with which you can see where your friends are in real time.

1. Friends card is opt-in. So if you are not actively gone and switch it on, don’t worry: you don’t send your place of residence to the world.
2. Even if you sign up, You can also choose exactly who you share the location – Selected friends, good friends or followers that you follow back. ‘Public’ is not an option.

The function is designed to feel lightweight and fun, instead of invasive. Think: a passive way to stay informed of your inner circle or find out which makers of local places tag in their content.

Even if you don’t share your Location, you can still view the map, which is full of content. You can browse:

• Reels, Messages and Stories With Location Tags (of people you follow, who are live for 24 hours)
• Comments from mutual followersAlso available for 24 hours

It looks a bit like a content -discovering card -you can come across the Instagram story of a friend from a concert last night or find a new coffee shop through the reel of a local maker. It should be a fun way to see what is happening in your neighborhood.

Where to find Instagram’s Friends Card

You will find the new Card card Tucked away in your Message Inbox.

Tap the Icon immediately messages At the top right of the app, and search for the Card Tab at the top of your inbox. From there you can:

• See the last shared locations of your friends (if they have chosen)
• Explore location -oriented messages, stories, reels and notes of mutual and makers you follow
• Work your own settings for sharing locations at

If you do not see it yet, will be tight – the function is now being rolled out in the US, with more countries to follow soon.

How to share locations works

If the idea of sending your place of residence to the world makes you uncomfortable, you don’t worry – Instagram Friends card is not. (Or, at least it is not supposed to be.)

Instagram has built in various privacy controls to make this experience safer:

• You choose who sees your location: Followers you follow back, good friends, a custom list or no one at all.
• You can exclude certain places or people: Are you going to be sensitive somewhere? You can disable the sharing of locations for specific places or individuals. If I eventually turn this position on, I will certainly set my house as offlimits.
• Location is only updated when you open the app: Or when it’s in the background and you return to it.

Parents of teenagers have extra checks: By setting up supervision, they are informed whether a teenager starts sharing his location – and can see with whom they share. Teenage accounts are for people between 13 and 17 years old.

When does your location actually appear on the app? According to Instagram: “If you share your location, this will do so Update every time you open Instagram. Your location will disappear after 24 hours, unless you open the app again. “

Although I could not find a confirmation of this, it seems implicit that your location will appear immediately When you open the app if you have registered.

There are also more serious security problems here to consider (so read the section below).

Stay safe with friends card

As nice as social cards can be, Sharing your location always comes with considerations -especially if you use Instagram as a maker or company on the public.

Although the new function has collected a lot of excitement, the map of Friends was not launched without it criticism – Everything because of the concern about safety.

Here are a few safety tips to keep in mind:

• Only share your location with people you trust: A custom list with whom you want to share is the safest gamble here. Your mutual follow and good group of friends may contain people you would rather not see where you are.
• View the list of your good friends: It may seem like a simple solution to share with good friends, but whoever defines Instagram as your good friends may be very different From whom you would include in that group. Here you can read how you can judge your good friends.
• Be selective about when and where you share: You can pause the location parts for certain places (such as your house or office) and switch it off at any time.
• Work your app and settings regularly at: Check your location settings in Instagram and the system settings of your phone to keep control.
• Parents: Check teen accounts with supervision of tools: Instagram will inform you if your teenage location makes it possible and you can see with whom they share. There is more about how to do that.

As with every position that deals with personal data, it is worth reviewing your settings before you sign up – and to check in from time to time to ensure that they still reflect what You want to.

Can friends card be useful for brands and makers?

There is a lot of potential here for some creative marketing and brand partnerships, and only time will tell how this function will be used. Because I have investigated the new function (I have not yet had access to South Africa), some ideas have been fueled:

Location -oriented content can now be discovered even more

Reels, messages and stories with a location day can now appear on the map – add another way for your content to be discovered by followers. If you are a local company, this makes friends a no-brainer.

For makers with good groups of friends or smaller communities, this can be a fun, exclusive way to share updates behind the scenes of specific places (think: events, meetups, pop-ups).

More reasons to place Instagram -stories and notes

Because stories and notes are eligible for the map (as long as they are location-related), this gives those short-lived formats a little more endurance and a different place to be seen.

Another layer for brand partnerships?

Friends Map can be another interesting marketing option for physical companies to work with makers.

For example, if I was a beauty brand that worked on a pop-up event, I might want to offer makers a smaller fee to appear during the launch the location appears in their mutual followers card. No content required: all they have to do is open Instagram.

Should you try your friends card?

Most people will probably immediately know if this function is for them. If you like to keep in touch with your good friends or want a composite version of location division with privacy controls, Friends Map might be worth trying.

But if you prefer to keep your location private or your feed-derived, you can still enjoy the content side of the card without registering.

Would you use the Friends card – or will the location share a hard pass? Let us know about threads or in the comments.

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