Instagram is exploring a new feature that lets users pin specific posts to their profile above their photo grid, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The new feature is currently in the testing phase and is showing up for select users on the platform. Users who have access to the feature are seeing a “Pin to your profile” option that you can select from the three dot menu next to posts.
“We’re testing a new feature that lets people feature posts on their profile,” a spokesperson from Meta told TechCrunch in an email.
The ability to pin a specific to your profile could be a welcome feature for users who want to highlight their favorite posts that may have been buried somewhere further down in their photo grid. The feature could also be useful for creators who post frequently but want to highlight a specific post.
Currently, users have the option to pin Stories to their profile, but this new feature would expand this ability to posts. Although you can currently highlight a post in a Story and then pin that story to your profile, this new feature would make that process a lot easier and more straightforward. It’s worth noting that the feature works similarly to Twitter’s “Pin to your profile” feature that lets you pin a tweet to the top of your personal feed.
It looks like Instagram has been developing this feature for at least a few months, as reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi spotted it back in January.
The pinned posts test comes roughly a week after Instagram announced that it’s removing the ‘Recent’ tab on hashtag pages for some users as part of a small test. Currently, when you select a hashtag, you’re taken to a page where you can parse through the content that has been posted using that hashtag via three categories: Top, Recent and Reels. With this change, some users will now only see the ‘Top’ and ‘Reels’ tabs on hashtag pages. The change could be seen as a way for Instagram to further promote Reels, its TikTok rival, while also focusing on surfacing posts that are receiving the most engagement on the platform.
Instagram is also testing a new feature that will make it easier for users to discover and support social causes directly through hashtags. When you search for specific hashtags associated with certain social movements, you now have the option to support them through new options. The company is rolling out the new feature to select hashtags focused on popular movements on Instagram, including #BlackLivesMatter, #womensrights and #climatecrisis.
