Instagram is leaning more into private sharing in another string of new updates that are being tested, which will give users a lot of new avenues for interacting in smaller groups.

First off, Instagram's testing how users can respond to inbox Notes. Users in the test pool can now reply to those Notes with audio clips, photos, videos, GIFs, and stickers.
This will add to the possibilities of interacting with Notes for users, in addition to contributing to general discussions with friends.

Notes, which Instagram launched a year ago, proved to be a favorite among young users. This is actually the demographic group that Instagram wants to keep its lead in, so that it doesn't lose those users to TikTok. On this level, Instagram has made the right strategic decision to ramp up Notes, and indeed, at the platform, songs and looping video clips, and other interactive options have been added to Notes over the last 12 months.

Another front will be testing Events, which enables users to create in-stream chat groups around a specific function or gathering.
private events will allow for another method of driving enclosed engagement within the app.

Additionally, the company has a Nearby feed for Stories on the horizon, which will provide you with a way to see public Stories posted by users and businesses in your area. It's also experimenting with an option that would let you set your Stories feed only to updates from users who follow one another.

Instead of seeing every last update from celebrity and business accounts, you would only see the update of all the people you are more likely to have a real-world connection with, in the sense that you both follow each other. That could be a better way to drive direct engagement and interaction in-stream.

Really, though, the biggest point of each of these is to focus on your space socially, and connect in smaller groups.

One major change in social media over the last couple of years has been the shift of engagement into private channels, as opposed to users sharing updates to their main feeds.

Initially, social media allowed everyone to be able to say their piece, with broadcasting to large audiences being key. But over time, and more negative effects of this have emerged-e.g. combative arguments, bad perception and being "canceled", old posts coming back to haunt you-more and more users have retreated to behind closed doors, private group chats instead, which offers greater security among people that you know and trust.

Such as Instagram.

As Instagram chief Adam Mosseri summarized just last year:

"Friends now post a lot more to stories, and send a lot more DMs, than they post to Feed."
Most creators and brands/organizations are still posting to the main timeline, though in truth much more interaction is actually happening in DMs, which, as noted, is why Instagram has been adding a range of new tools to lean into that shift.

Examples:

In December last year, Instagram added Notes, which is a conversation-prompting option. It highlights chat prompts from your connections at the top of your DM inbox.
This month February, Instagram launched Channels, providing one-to-many messaging option, target to celeb/craters who would need a DM-aligned way to stay connected with their fans
In March, IG rolled out Collections, enabling users collaborate and interact around selected posts in a group feed
In September, Instagram added a new option to share feed posts only to Close Friends
The idea is to play into this shift in behavior, keep the Instagrammers posting, and realize that the majority of people no longer look to engage with most content in the primary feed.

It is where these new updates also come in and collectively ensure there is more private engagement with the app. Which is also an important note for marketers as more of this discussion moves out of view, which likely makes "Shares" a more important stat to track.

This complicates things, although in terms of direct response data and engagement. Another thing to keep in mind might change how you look at tracking KPIs and performance over time.