Curate Your Feed: Instagram's New Feature Lets You Focus on Your Inner Circle

In an effort to increase user control and promote more meaningful interactions, Instagram is rolling out a new feature that enables users to restrict interactions within their “close friends” list. This optional feature acts as a virtual velvet rope, effectively filtering out noise from followers who aren’t part of your inner circle.

Once you activate this new feature, only people on your close friends list will be able to:

View and comment on your posts.
Send you direct messages (DMs).
Answer your stories.
Tag you in posts and comments.
Mention yourself in their stories.

While other followers can still engage with your content, their comments, messages and tags will be hidden from both you and the wider Instagram community. Although the feature is designed with younger users in mind, it provides a valuable tool for anyone looking to curate their online experience and prioritize interactions with their closest contacts.

What other control features will be at your disposal?
The platform is also rolling out a set of detailed control options, including:

Interaction Time Limit: Users can set a specific time limit to limit interactions, after which the feature will automatically stop, prompting them to extend or disable it.
Selective Limitation: Users have the option to establish a specific time period to restrict interactions. Once this time limit expires, the feature will be automatically disabled, prompting users to extend or disable it.
Banned accounts: Instagram now offers more nuanced methods to control interactions with specific accounts without blocking them completely. Banned accounts won’t be notified when you’re online, their messages will be sorted into a separate request folder, and new comments they make on your posts will be visible only to you and them.