Have You Noticed That Instagram Now Lets You Reply To DMs Directly From Your Feed

When it comes to sending direct messages (or DMs) on Instagram, there are now a slew of additional choices for users. One of the most important new features is the ability to immediately react to a direct message (DM) right from your feed, saving you time and preventing you from losing your position in your inbox. New sharing options including the ability to transmit music previews and conduct votes in group chat are now available.

Instagram’s CEO, Adam Mosseri, made the announcement in a video aired at the end of December that the company will be focusing on messaging in 2015. “Messaging is one of the key ways that people — indeed it is the primary method that people interact online at this point,” Mosseri added. “Instagram must accept that messaging is the major mode of communication.”

Apple and Amazon’s music streaming services are integrated into the song preview function, which provides 30-second snippets of tunes. Spotify compatibility is expected to be added shortly. Long-pressing the share button brings up a new option that allows you to rapidly reshare a post with four of your closest friends.

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There are a number of new capabilities in Instagram DM that bring it in line with what Facebook Messenger currently offers, which isn’t all that surprising considering Facebook’s efforts to make these two chat services cross-compatible. Like Messenger, Instagram is adding a similar row of profile images at the top of its inbox to display which of your connections are presently online, and it’s also incorporating Messenger’s polls. @silent, the new @silent command from Messenger that lets you send messages to your contacts without alerting them, is coming to Instagram as well.

Today, Instagram announced that most of these capabilities are now accessible worldwide, and that music sharing begins today. It’s not possible for Instagram to provide features like @silent, polls or showing who is active at the top of your inbox in Europe, according to Instagram spokeswoman Christine Pai.