Facebook extends Instagram integration, lets you automatically share Instagram Stories on Facebook

What you need to know

• Facebook is testing further integration between Instagram and the Facebook app.
• It's now allowing some users to automatically send their Instagram Stories to Facebook.
• The company has also begun integrating Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger.

Facebook has long envisioned exploiting its control of the three largest social networks — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — by creating greater synergies between the three. It recently began the work of integrating Instagram and Facebook messaging as part of that effort. Now, it's also improving the crossposting experience for Stories between the two social media platforms.

As confirmed by a Facebook Communications Manager to @MattNavarra, the tech giant now allows some users to crosspost all their Instagram stories to their Facebook account automatically. While the option to share Instagram Stories to Facebook already exists, it currently requires a manual input each time.

The addition is also different from the current solution in one crucial aspect: while manually sharing a story to Facebook allows all your Facebook friends to view it (unless you change those settings), the new option will automatically restrict viewing privileges to only those Facebook accounts who are linked to an Instagram account and are also your followers on Instagram. This ensures that automatically sharing stories between the platforms will allow you to maintain control over who sees them.

Facebook, of course, also has its own built-in implementation of Stories, and those enrolled in the limited test will be able to distinguish between Facebook Stories and those which have been imported directly from Instagram via the color around the profile picture: blue indicates a Facebook story while the orange and pink from the Instagram logo denotes an Instagram story.

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