HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) — This week Aam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, announced three new changes for its billions of users. One of them is the "Friend Map", which allows users can to each other’s location.
"This is an opt-in experience, but if you want you can share your location with Close Friends list or custom list of people that you care about and trust most," explained Mosseri on Instagram. "When they go to the map, which you can get to from the top of inbox they will see the location of people who decided to share location with them."
If you post an image or video with the location, it will automatically show up on the map. Mosseri clarified on Thursday that all users start with their location off.
To make sure it's off, go to your messages. At the top you should see "Map," similar to the image below. Click on "Map" and then from there the gear symbol in the top right corner. If you don't see this in the Messages tab, you may have to update your Instagram app.
You can opt-in to have all your followers, or specific friends see your location. I spoke to Instagram users who had mixed opinions.
“I don’t really care if people know where I am because it doesn’t matter to me that much," said Logan Schwock, 17.
"I didn’t know about it and I'm going to turn it off," said Jenna Keller, of West Seneca.
