Facebook trialling Instagram to WhatsApp posts

Facebook is running a test to let users post Instagram Stories directly to WhatsApp, as a WhatsApp Status, TechCrunch reports. WhatsApp Status is a part of WhatsApp where users can post encrypted photos, videos and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. An Instagram Story posted as a WhatsApp Status is also encrypted. The report is based on a tip-off from a reader in Brazil, where a local blogger has also posted about feature after stumbling across it.

As has been well documented, Facebook has brought many of Instagram rival Snapchat’s features to Instagram. One key advantage Facebook holds over Snapchat is the fact that it has multiple social platforms – Facebook itself, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger – to play with and so can offer this ability to post from one platform to another.

One danger in doing so is that users on two or more Facebook-owned platforms may start seeing the same content multiple times. To prevent this, Facebook is working on a way of effectively deduping content so that users won’t be annoyed by seeing the same post on multiple platforms.