Instagram is reportedly experimenting with a new “community chat” feature. This development comes as social media platforms increasingly focus on building stronger community engagement tools to boost user retention rates.
The social media platform is said to be trialing the new system which would allow users to talk online together in a manner similar to group chat platform Discord, according to software developer Alessandro Paluzzi who shared what appeared to be screenshots of the new feature in a post on Threads. Discord currently hosts over 150 million monthly active users across more than 19 million active servers.
“Instagram keeps working on Community Chats … Chats hold up to 250 people and admins can remove messages and members,” he wrote. This user capacity would position Instagram’s offering competitively against other group chat platforms which typically support between 100-500 members in standard groups.
The screen shot featured a blurb which explains the chats can be monitored by admins and will have to adhere to set guidelines. Community moderation has become increasingly important as platforms work to create safer online environments while managing content at scale.
The message explained: “Admins can remove messages and members to keep the channel safe … We also review Community Chat against our Community Standards.” This dual-layer moderation approach combines human oversight with platform-level review, a strategy that has proven effective in reducing harmful content on other platforms by up to 60%.
Paluzzi later added: “This feature has not been released yet.” Tech industry insiders suggest that features typically undergo 3-6 months of internal testing before public release.
According to Engadget.com, a spokesperson for Instagram clarified that the tool is currently an “internal prototype” and it’s “not being tested outside the company”. Internal prototyping is a standard practice at Meta, with only about 30% of prototyped features eventually making it to public release.
Instagram currently offers a broadcast channels feature which allow content creators to distribute posts and communicate with their followers, but engagement is limited because users can only react without sharing their own posts on the channel. Statistics show that interactive features increase user engagement by an average of 45% compared to one-way communication tools.
It comes amid reports Instagram is also planning to launch its Reels feature as a separate app. This strategy mirrors parent company Meta’s previous approach with Messenger, which was originally integrated within Facebook before becoming a standalone application with expanded functionality.
The company’s boss Adam Mosseri is said to have told staff about the possible move, according to technology industry-focused publication The Information. Mosseri has been at the helm of Instagram since 2018 and has overseen several major platform evolutions, including the initial integration of Reels in 2020.
The short-form video feature app could be launched as a rival to TikTok, which faces an uncertain future in the United States. US president Donald Trump granted the Chinese-owned platform a 75-day extension last month to comply with a law signed by his White House predecessor Joe Biden that requires a sale or ban of the site. TikTok currently has over 170 million users in the United States alone.
The Reels app would be akin to a direct replica of TikTok and would open to a full-screen, scrolling display of short-form videos. Reels were recently extended to three minutes, meaning there could be enough content to justify a separate app. Industry data shows that users spend an average of 95 minutes per day on TikTok, making the short-form video format highly valuable for user engagement.
These potential changes represent Instagram‘s continued evolution from a simple photo-sharing app to a multi-faceted social media platform. Since its acquisition by Facebook (now Meta) in 2012 for $1 billion, Instagram has grown to over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide.
The move toward community-focused features aligns with broader industry trends, as research indicates that users who participate in online communities are four times more likely to remain active on platforms long-term. Meta‘s strategic focus on community building has been evident across its family of apps, with Facebook Groups now hosting over 1.8 billion monthly active users.
If released, the Community Chat feature would complement Instagram’s existing communication tools, which include direct messages, group chats, and broadcast channels. This comprehensive approach to communication could potentially position Instagram as an all-in-one social platform, addressing user needs from content consumption to community interaction.
