Meta is quietly experimenting with a new app called Instants. While it hasn't gone public yet, it's already turning heads in the social media world.

Confirmed by Meta to Business Insider and first surfaced by mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi, Instants would let users send disappearing photos directly to friends, with images vanishing once opened and expiring entirely after 24 hours.

Sound familiar?

Not only is the idea here essentially a clone of the original core feature of Snapchat, but Instants also sounds a lot like a rebranded version of Shots, a spontaneous photo-sharing feature Meta tested inside Instagram last year. Not to mention disappearing DMs (2016) and Vanish Mode (2020).

Why It Matters

There are no public release plans for Instants yet, but the direction Meta is heading is clear: closer, more private, more spontaneous sharing is where user behavior is going.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, has spoken about a "paradigm shift" toward private sharing in DMs. Instants would be a dedicated home for exactly that kind of behavior.

As the public feed becomes more and more about entertainment, user-to-user “social” features will continue to happen in more private spaces. Brands should continue to keep this in mind as they hone their content and community-building strategies.