Although it may seem strange to those who are not Instagram users, as well as those who only access it sporadically, it may be surprising, but the truth is that the direct message function (which is commonly referred to as DM) isand is used much more often than one might think considering the initial access of this service. I myself admit that it surprised me some time ago.

It’s true though, there are many people who They are turning to Instagram direct messages as an alternative to instant messaging serviceswhich also happens to a lesser extent with other services like Twitter. Now, in all these cases the same circumstance arises, namely that these direct communication functions, which supplement the reason for the service to which they are limited, are usually quite limited, especially when compared to services designed specifically to preserve this type of communication.

Now those responsible for these services have realized that many of their users use DM for this purpose, which of course translates into a longer time of use of the service (one of the most valuable metrics on the Internet) and subsequently They decided to stop using the “fill” feature.to focus on improving it, ensuring that users value this type of one-to-one communication even more.

So as we can read in The Verge, Instagram has added new features to direct messages. And as I mentioned, Adam Mosseri himself (yes, who I talked about a while ago and who was forced to testify before a committee of the United States Senate) stated that the youngest users (one of the main targets of the company) made them a very common channel of communication , over other instant messaging options.

A very important point of this deployment of new features is the possibility edit photos and images by drawing on them or adding stickers before sending them, in a similar way that has existed for Stories for some time. In addition, users will also be able to create personalized stickers (a feature already present in other Meta services) from their own images and photos. On the other hand, Instagram has also improved the customization options for direct message conversations by adding new themes that customize various elements of its interface.