Although Instagram really started testing this with a limited set of users back in September, this is now officially announced as such - all users will be able to share feed posts and Reels with any selected group of people they add to their "Close Friends" list.
Now you can change the target audience for your feed updates to "Close Friends", another way of achieving greater closeness and interaction in the app.
Instagram launched "Close Friends" especially for Stories as far back as 2018, allowing you to curate a list of up to 100 people into an even more confined group, rather than posting publicly.

It's since added Notes and Reels to the content mix, offering another contained group engagement option, although not all users appear to have been able to share these with their private groups.

IG says that all users will get the power to post to "Close Friends" in Reels from today.
It's the latest in Instagram's evolving efforts to lean into more enclosed, intimate group sharing, as more people shy away from public posting in the app.

As Instagram chief Adam Mosseri explained last year:

"Friends now post a lot more to stories, and send a lot more DMs, than they post to Feed.".

And that shift, which is also evident in other social apps, has seen a greater focus on messaging and group participation options with each platform trying now to facilitate more isolated interaction as a way of keeping users sharing to their apps.

Another factor exacerbating this trend has been the proliferation of AI-recommended content in user feeds - that have less room for updates from friends and family. And given both Facebook and IG are seeing significant increases in usage due to showing you more video content, it makes sense for them to act in this direction and align with this broader shift.

In this, new "Close Friends" options are another part of the deal, and it will be interesting to know if Instagram users adopt these updates and start posting into even more enclosed groups.