Instagram today announced Instagram Direct, a new service that lets users send one another text and picture messages privately. The new service includes an inbox where users can see photos and videos that people have sent them.
Users will have the option to publish photos/videos to all their followers or to only specific people when composing their posts. Private photos/videos offer read receipts and their own private threads for comments and likes. Photos and videos that users receive from people they follow will appear in the inbox immediately. For content that comes from people users don’t follow, they’ll receive a request and can choose to view it or ignore it.
Instagram 5.0 for Android and iOS are available in the Play Store and iTunes App Store, respectivel. Instagram says the direct messaging service is still in beta for Windows Phone, but should be available soon.
