Facebook is developing new cross-posting functionality for the Stories feature on Instagram.
As spotted by leaker Jane Manchun Wong, who often uncovers new and upcoming features during development, this new Facebook feature would make it easy for users to post their stories to Instagram at the same time. It appears as a toggle in the ‘Story Privacy’ menu and when enabled, posts Facebook Stories to Instagram as well.
While the feature will likely be a boon for social media managers, influencers and anyone else who regularly posts content to both platforms, it’s also one of Facebook’s biggest incursions into Instagram. Facebook has been slowly invading the popular image sharing network over the last few years. Recently, it added an ‘Instagram — From Facebook’ title screen to the app, included an ‘Open Facebook’ button in Instagram’s menu and uses it to push Facebook notifications into the Instagram experience.
Facebook is working on cross-posting Stories to Instagram pic.twitter.com/uH2w3VVnSe
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 9, 2020
TechCrunch notes that this feature is an extension of a similar addition Facebook previously made to Instagram. Back in 2017, the social media giant added the option for Instagram users to cross-post Stories to Facebook. Now, it appears things have come full circle.
Further, a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch that it is formally testing the cross-posting feature and that the company will continue to explore options for simplifying and improving how Stories work across its apps. Ultimately, this means Facebook is testing the cross-posting feature on real users and it will likely roll out widely in the near future.
While the cross-posting ability will likely lead to higher use of the Stories feature, I’d also imagine it’ll frustrate users. Instagram tends to have a younger user base, and the addition of Stories cross-posting from Facebook could lead to an influx of content from older Facebook users, such as parents. It’s a good thing Instagram lets you mute Stories.
Source: Jane Manchun Wong Via: TechCrunch
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