Instagram’s Direct Message (DM) service has been once of its most successful features in recent times. The addition of a platform to talk to the people you follow (and the ones you don’t) changed how Instagram functioned in many ways. However, the function was only accessible from the application for Instagram available on mobile operating systems. Now, the Facebook-owned platform has rolled out a new feature where people can send direct messages from their web browser itself.
The photo-sharing service was already been testing web-based DMs with a small group of users since January 2020. “Sliding into your DMs. Now you can get and send Instagram Direct messages on desktop, no matter where you are in the world,” the company posted on Twitter on Friday.
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How to use Instagram direct messages on web
Step 1: Use any web browser to log into your Instagram account on the Web.
Step 2: The direct messaging section can be found on the top right corner, similar to where you would find it in a mobile app.
Step 3: You can now easily message other Instagram accounts by tapping on the message account. Note that you can also enable desktop notifications to stay alerted on replies, similar to the smartphone app.
Since the test began, Instagram has made small updates to the service to make it more like the app-based direct messaging. This includes the emoji keyboard and adding a gallery view to photos and videos, as reported by The Verge. Web direct messages are convenient for those who use Instagram all the time. This even includes journalists, social media influencers and managers. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told The New York Times that “private messaging, groups, and Stories” were the “three fastest-growing areas of online communication”.
Instagram’s reduced streaming quality
In other news, Instagram and Facebook recently reduced streaming quality on their apps. This was done to reduce the load on India’s internet infrastructure. Prominent other services like Netflix and YouTube also followed with the decision. As most of the country stays in lockdown, web speeds across India have already started taking a hit.
