Instagram Close Friend Transparency

I remember after a long bout off Instagram I reinstalled the app and noticed they had launched a “close friends” feature. It immediately caught my eye because I was on a few close friends lists that surprised me.

Being regarded as someone’s close friend is probably better than being excluded, but who’s to say?

What if we made the option of close friends more… explicitly visible? Rather than introducing the concept and then burying it deep within a menu somewhere you could see when you are excluded from the close friends list and request to be added.

On one hand, I actually don’t hate this idea because it would boost the visibility of a niche feature. However, it does also make for some very awkward DM exchanges if you find yourself excluded from a group you thought you were a part of.

All in all, I don’t see this making it into prod even though a case can be made for better “close friends” visibility.

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