Instagram has a share feature that lets you copy the link to a post, any post, and share it. The sharing is private though; you can send it to a friend or you can copy a link and paste it somewhere. You cannot share a post by another account to your account. This limitation is what gave birth to the Repost app that lets you share a post from another account and give credit to the original poster. What you can do is share an Instagram post to your Instagram story.
Open Instagram and tap the share icon at the bottom of the post you want to share. It’s the one next to the comment button. This will open the share menu that lets you send a post to a friend.
You will see a ‘Add post to your story’ option in this menu. Tap it.
This will open yet another share screen where you will see the ‘Your Story’ option at the top. Tap the Share button to share an Instagram post to your story. The post gives credit to the original poster and you can remove the post from your story at any time. Like all images that you post to your story, this post will disappear after 24 hours.
Instagram doesn’t give users any way to share posts from other accounts which is a shame. Accounts looking to grow their followers could benefit from something like that. Users can only like a post and the feed screen that shows you what your friends liked isn’t exactly given a lot of focus.
Most users will either view stories, or they’ll stick to their home feed. Instagram gives stories considerable importance over other posts. If an account you follow posts something to their story after a long hiatus, you get an alert. Stories appear at the very top of the home feed so again, they have more focus than what your friends like.
This feature not only makes it easier for you to share something with all your followers but also benefits accounts that want to grow their followers and reach more people. Additionally, it will make it easier for users to post something to their story. Not everyone has time to post a fresh, personal image to their account but posting something neat you find in your feed is pretty easy.
Ideally, Instagram should do what the Repost app lets its users do but that too comes with the risk of a post being lost in the home feed with everything else. Visibility is always important when it comes to social media and that makes this feature better than what the Repost app has to offer.
