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Instagram just made it a lot less annoying to share photos

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Instagram

Since Instagram first launched, the app has never had a way to easily share photos that you see in your feed. The easiest way has been to "@" mention someone in a photo's comments if you want to make sure they see it.

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Not ideal.

On Tuesday, Instagram announced that it's finally fixing this problem with an update to Direct, its private messaging feature that you might have forgotten existed. Now you'll be able to send photos and videos to your friends on Instagram with just a couple taps.

Let's say you come across a photo in your feed you want to share, like this great post from Tech Insider's account.

The easiest way, short of copying and pasting a link and sending it in a text message or something, would be to @ mention their Instagram account in the post's comments.

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Tech Insider

Instagram says this practice has become so popular that nearly 40% of all comments include an @ mention.

After this new update, you'll see an arrow prompting you to send a post directly to people you follow on Instagram.

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Instagram

Sending a post to someone — or group of people— will create a new conversation in Instagram Direct.

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Instagram

You can name conversations, respond with emoji, and send a quick selfie.

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Instagram

Direct previously created a new message thread for each photo you shared privately, but now it threads conversations based on who you're sharing with.

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Instagammers can get this killer update on Tuesday in Apple's App Store and on Google Play for Android.

Instagram
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