Instagram Pushing Close Friends Sharing for Teenagers

What Changed

Instagram has increased in-app prompts encouraging teenage users to use the Close Friends feature, which allows users to share Stories with a selected subset of followers rather than their full audience. While selective sharing is generally positive for privacy, the feature also creates a two-tier social dynamic that can cause social exclusion concerns — young people may feel hurt or anxious if they are not included in peers' Close Friends lists. Additionally, the Close Friends circle, being smaller and more trusted, may be where young people share more personal or sensitive content that they might otherwise keep private, which carries its own risks if the circle includes the wrong people.

What to Review

• •Discuss with your teenager who is on their Close Friends list and how they decide who to include.
• •Talk about what kinds of content they share with their Close Friends group compared to their wider audience.
• •Consider whether Close Friends sharing is creating any social anxiety or exclusion concerns in their peer group.

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