Instagram debuts direct messaging: What brand managers should know
The photo-sharing service’s new feature—Instagram Direct—enables users to send private messages. Here’s what you need to know.

On Thursday, Instagram unveiled a new feature for its popular mobile app: Instagram Direct. You can read all about it on the Instagram blog.
For many users, this will simply be a more efficient way to share photos with specific friends.
For brand managers, this new feature opens doors and presents opportunities.
Off the top, a challenge for brands will be the ability to segment their Instagram communities and create “groups” or lists of fans/customers broken up by geography, interests, etc. For most of the ideas you see below, this will be crucial. Right now, we don’t have many tools to help us do that—just elbow grease.
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