Instagram users across the globe could soon be confronted by a big change to the app on their Android and Apple iPhone devices. As spotted by the team at The Verge, it appears that Instagram is beginning to roll out a new way to message that will be power by Facebook Messenger.
When launching Instagram, some users are already seeing an update which states, “There’s a New Way to Message on Instagram.”
This is then followed by a list of changes which include new colourful look tp chats, react with emojis and swipe to reply to messages. There’s even an option to chat directly with friends who use Facebook.
According to The Verge, once you agree to the update the usual direct message icon is replaced by the Facebook Messenger logo.
Although there’s clearly some new features in this upgrade it might not go down well with all Instagram fans.
Late last year Facebook revealed that it was adding its branding to more of its apps including WhatsApp and Instagram and users didn’t like it.
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Taking to twitter, one fan said: “I can’t see how this is a good idea. Facebook’s brand is poison at the moment.
“It’s a small miracle that WhatsApp and Instagram have been relatively unaffected by association.
“They should be kept as seemingly separate as possible.”
Whilst another declared: “That would make me want to drop them. “Facebook is not a positive brand image in my view and would tarnish anything it’s more visibly associated with.”
It’s unclear when everyone will start to see this new direct message change but it will be interesting to see how Instagram fans react once it lands on their phones.
Facebook says its making the change to improve the experience and security of its chat platforms with a spokesperson saying: “We want to build the best messaging experiences we can; and people want messaging to be fast, simple, reliable and private,”
“We’re working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks. As you would expect, there is a lot of discussion and debate as we begin the long process of figuring out all the details of how this will work.”