Sliding into someone’s DMs has never been easier.
Instagram is testing desktop direct messaging, allowing users to communicate via the web.
This update—more than six years in the making—streamlines the social network’s messaging process (so you can send and reply to texts on the DL during work*).
“For those of you into your DMs, today we start to test Direct on the desktop web,” Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri tweeted on Tuesday. “It’s only a small percentage of people for now—we need to make sure it works well—but we hope to bring this to everyone soon.”
I’ve not yet been graced with the new function, which appears as a paper-plane icon (same as the mobile app) in the upper right corner—next to the Explore, Like, and Profile symbols.
Still in testing mode, this is one feature that will likely stick.
Software engineer and tipster Jane Manchun Wong first spotted the trial early last year, during its “dogfooding” days (used by employees to identify bugs or necessary changes).
Web DMs are certainly more tenable than Instagram’s ill-fated attempt at a standalone direct messaging service: Direct is a Snapchat-like app that opens to the camera for quick and dirty shots you can send straight to friends and followers.
The move comes as Facebook attempts to merge its messaging services, enabling users to send texts across Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram without switching apps.
All three platforms would remain separate, but be brought together under a single protocol. Executives hoped to finish their project in early 2020, but technical issues may delay that timeline.
* To be fair, this is an actual perk for social media managers or influencers who work on a full-size computer all day.
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