Following its December 2022 public launch, today Instagram Notes is getting its first set of new features. Instagram Notes at the moment allows users to leave a status message that appears for their Close Friends or mutual at the top of their inbox. According to a post shared by Mark Zuckerberg via his Instagram Broadcast Channel this morning, with today’s recent update, Notes will now also support music and translations.
Before this update, users could only put text and emoji in their Notes, but now they can also share a 30-second audio clip as an additional means of self-expression. The new Music Notes are expected to be used by users to express their sentiments, moods, or simply what music they’ve been listening to lately. Users can choose to express their comments in addition to the shared footage by adding a caption to a Music Note.
According to META, all markets in which Instagram has music license rights will support the song clips.
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Notes Translations is the other new feature included in today’s update. Now, thanks to this feature users can just tap the “See translation” link beneath a note in another language to have it translated into their own. This simply extends Instagram’s existing support for translations in other areas to Instagram Notes. Instagram already offers translations in other places of the program, such as in Post descriptions, comments, and Reels.
While testing Notes ahead of its launch late last year, Meta said it found users valued and preferred having a way to start conversations with friends in a fun and exciting way. And, just like how Twitter asks users to share “what’s happening?” in its app, Instagram Notes prompts users to “Share a thought”. Users can type out a Note with up to 60 characters of text or emoji, which appears at the top of friends’ inboxes for 24 hours. Direct messages (DMs) are then used to reply to notes.
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Instagram Notes has provided META the opportunity to test out text-based updates prior to the release of its Twitter clone, which is now under active development, even if it has been operating somewhat under the radar due to the lack of popularity among some friend groups. In fact, The New York Times reported last year that Instagram had thought about using Notes as a kind of Twitter rival. However, it’s unclear how the impending introduction of Instagram’s standalone, decentralized social app, which is akin to Twitter, will eventually affect user uptake or the company’s investment in the less popular Instagram Notes function.
You might not see the new features right away because widespread rollouts sometimes take time, but they will start to roll out throughout Instagram’s entire worldwide install base today.
How to Use Instagram Notes
For those who do not know how to use Instagram Notes, here is a tutorial video on how to use the feature on Instagram.
