Instagram today is rolling out a new update which makes it easier to connect with friends and chat with them when they’re available. Whenever your friends are active, Instagram will show a green dot next to their profile picture including the Direct inbox and when you see their shared post in the news feed.
You will only see the status of your friends who follow you or people who you have talked to in Direct messaging. However, the company is also giving you an option to hide your own status and turn off the ability to see when your friends are active in your settings. Instagram is focusing on improving more real-time conversations while giving you the control to hide your status altogether.
In a blog post, Instagram said:
DMing friends and connecting over the content you love is more fun when you know your friends are there to see it. This update gives you the ability to have more of those realtime conversations while giving you the control to hide your status altogether.