Instagram is exploring a new way for users to express themselves on the platform, with a freshly spotted feature that lets people display up to five personal interest topics directly on their profile pages. The update was uncovered by app researcher Radu Oncescu and signals Instagram’s continued push to make the platform feel more social and less like a passive content feed.
How the interests feature works
When enabled, the feature allows users to pin up to five interest topics to their public profile, giving visitors an at-a-glance sense of a person’s passions. Beyond just a display function, the selected interests are reported to influence the content each user sees in their feed — working in a similar fashion to Instagram’s existing “Your Algorithm” control. The goal, according to observers, is to spark connections between users who share common interests, nudging people to engage with each other rather than simply consuming Reels.
This is not entirely new territory for Instagram. The platform previously trialled a comparable function called “Picks,” which let users highlight their interests through inbox Notes. Sister platform Threads has also experimented with displaying interest topics on profiles, suggesting Meta is stress-testing the concept across its family of apps before any wider rollout.
Why it matters for Instagram’s future
The feature reflects a strategic tension Instagram is actively navigating. As short-form video continues to dominate the platform, there is a real risk that Instagram loses the social fabric that once defined it — the connections, the community, and the reason users built followings in the first place. If the app becomes purely an entertainment channel, rivals with stronger content algorithms become a more compelling alternative. TikTok has already captured a significant share of that audience.
By surfacing shared interests on profiles, Instagram may be betting that stronger social bonds will translate into more user-generated content and longer-term retention. The interests feature is still in testing, and no official launch date has been announced.