Instagram Updated With Direct Messaging | Now Send Sexy Photos In Private

Have you ever wanted to send a sexy, artfully filtered photo of yourself to a select 15 ladies that follow you on Instagram and then know exactly when they have read the message? Well, now that desire is a reality with the privatization of your Instagram posts through “Direct Messaging.”

At first I saw Instagram was updated with direct messaging and I thought that it seemed like a logical update that didn't affect me. I didn't think much of it until I began to hear other people post concerns about the annoyance of group messaging and read receipts like in iMessage. Today, while this isn't new news, I thought it would be valuable to share what this might mean for you if you haven't updated to the new Instagram App yet.

Instagram App Update

This week Instagram added a direct messaging feature called “Instagram Direct” into the app that allows you share your content with exactly who you want. This feature, in a nutshell, is like merging your inbox, iMessage, and Instagram all into one. This includes group messaging, which allows you to to include up to 15 people that you follow and include them in on the private photo or video with a message. This, in a way, is just like a private Facebook group but the only difference is that you have to send a photo or video to start the conversation. Also one of the main differences is that you can tell when someone has actually read the message they sent you in real time.

Read Receipts

I don’t know about you, but I’ve turned off “Read Receipts” on my iPhone iMessage feature. I just don’t like people knowing if I’ve read their message yet. I would however, like the ability to customize a preferred “read receipts” list for family and close friends. Call me old fashioned but I just don’t need that lurking feature of people watching me through read receipts. Instagram has added a similar feature that notifies you when each person you’ve sent a message to has read the direct message. So far I cannot find a way to turn off read receipts in this feature or opt out all together. Am I now forced to allow other people to know if I have read their group message about their kitten playing with a ball of yarn? In the photo above, we see a poor soul sending sleepy selfies to a list of ladies that can all see that they are part of the message. They can also see who else in the conversation has read the photo.

Send A Message To Anyone

Another difference in the Instagram App is that you can send a message to anyone that you follow. As soon as I heard about this I took a super sexy photo of myself and sent it to my favorite Instagram user Rick Ross @richforever to see if he thought it was “boss” enough to send to my wife. The main difference here is that the message will go into Rick's “pending catergory” that he will have to approve before he responds on whether or not he thinks it's BOSS. He doesn’t follow me yet but I encourage all of you to do the same and tell him it’s from @garywinchester and that he should step up his game and follow me so we can have more “BOSS” conversations via photos on Instagram Direct.

Conclusion

I am personally on the fence about this update. I am in favor of keeping photo messages private but I should have control over leaving conversation such as group messages, or even preventing them from ever happening to me. I don't seem to mind, or let things like this upset me, but I thouroughly  dislike when I am included in a group message that I have no control over. This, at the moment, seems to be one of those features that will force me to unfollow people if they decide to put me inside of a trivial group Direct Message on Instagram. Unless, of course, it's with Ricky Rozay. Instagram was awesome when it was a simple feed of photos of people that I liked. I don't need it to start merging Facebook or iMessage features.

Who likes this update, and why?