The news: Instagram is exploring a feature that lets users select their favorite movies, books, TV shows, games, and music to encourage intentional sharing and discovery.

The offering, called Picks, then surfaces overlapping interests between friends to drive engagement. It’s still an internal prototype and isn’t being tested externally yet.

Copycats: Amid rising competition from TikTok and other social platforms, Instagram is moving quickly to add new connection-focused features. Not all offerings are novel, though, with the company capitalizing on products rivals have already tested.

• Instagram recently added reposts, a friends tab, and an activity map, duplicating similar features on X, Facebook, and Snapchat.
• Picks’ tactic of pairing users together by shared interests to increase interaction mirrors functionalities on dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge.

Opportunities: Picks could become a powerful targeting layer for advertisers and content creators, enabling ad delivery tied to user passions and preferences.

• Shared Picks could create micro-communities, helping content creators understand overlapping audience niches.
• The feature unlocks more insights than traditional behavioral targeting and could allow product and marketing teams to personalize campaigns based on self-declared interests.

Moving too fast? The addition of Picks could risk overloading Instagram with new features, especially given its other recent launches. Instagram Maps has already received backlash over user privacy and for being an addition that no one asked for.

The app, which already hosts Stories, Reels, AI search, and shopping tools, may start to feel bloated and confusing to navigate. Picks could also feel invasive if interpreted as another attempt from Meta to mine and monetize user data.

Our take: Effectiveness will depend on user adoption, stickiness, and whether shared Picks sparks meaningful interaction or is perceived as just another data-harvesting ploy. If Picks launches, brands should be ready to experiment with interest-based messaging but prepare to navigate privacy sensitivities.