Instagram once again chases Snapchat and launches map showing where friends are

Snapchat-style friend maps are coming. Meta has announced an update for Instagram that introduces some long requested features. Among these is the ability to share one's location on a map and see that of friends. According to the website Engadget, the new feature is very similar to the Snap Map of the Snapchat social network, a competitor of Meta's platform.

In practice, it shows on the map the content shared by friends who have decided to activate it. Location is deactivated by default and always managed by the user. One can choose to share one's location with all friends, only Close Friends, selected accounts or none at all. And, in the case of teenage profiles, the decision is in the hands of an adult - the parent or guardian.

"You can decide whether your teenage child has access to location sharing on the map," reads a Meta note, "and see who they are sharing their location with."

Next to the map comes reposts: it is finally possible to re-share Reels and public posts, with automatic attribution to the original author, which will be visible in a dedicated tab on one's profile.

Finally, a new 'Friends' tab in Reels will collect the content your contacts have interacted with: what they have liked, commented on or shared will appear in your feed, with the possibility of turning passive scrolling into an active conversation, thanks to a bar that opens the chat directly.