Initially, Instagram was an app designed for the sharing of images with friends, acquaintances, family members and random followers. But lately, it has proven to be a little bit more than a photo sharing app.
It has of late included certain features aside from the regular feed such as; the Instagram Explore Tab that is used for displaying pictures from pages the app thinks you’re interested in, the Stories lineament procured directly from Snapchat, live streaming and the capacity to send direct messages to other users.
Now, Instagram is planning on moving the messaging feature out of its main app into a separate app that goes by the name of “Direct.”
Direct is presently available for download in order to put it to test by Android and iOS in Turkey, Chile, Uruguay, Israel, Portugal and Italy. The intention of this modification is to get more users to patronize Instagram’s messaging package while allowing the main Instagram app to remain a platform for the sharing of videos and images to various individuals around the globe.
There is reason to believe that tools for messaging on Instagram will flourish on their own as messaging apps have tended to possess more users than social networks. People have a certain kind of preference for private conversations in some matters and as such move to promote the new messaging app and if chatting becomes an autonomous pillar of Instagram, it may cause the app to be further embedded into the lives of users and open up more business opportunities.
In its current testing stage, there is little or no difference between Instagram’s core app and Direct. It comprises three screens, a camera in the middle; to the left, a page where accounts can be switched and navigation settings made; to the right, a page for your inbox.
Instagram Direct opens to camera viewfinder just as Snapchat does during initial launch, but you can also decide to swipe down to type and send a text-based message. The page to the left is where you’ll find all your account/app settings, while the one to the right is page displaying your inbox of ongoing conversations. The app may sound a bit too basic but the evolution that Instagram has built between the two appears to be streamlined.
The new Instagram Direct app
When you’re in the Instagram Direct app, swiping to the left will divulge an Instagram logo, and completing the swipe will take you to the main Instagram app. The messaging feature of the app will be eliminated as quickly as possible once the Direct app is downloaded, but you can easily access it by swiping to the left on the Instagram app, then you will find the Direct logo and find yourself in it.
It remains quite uncertain for now if Instagram will take Direct to other countries following its testing, but seeing how productive Facebook has been with Messenger after removing direct messaging from its core app, an expansion of Direct to other countries wouldn’t be all that astonishing.
