Extremely Close Friends

Pardon a tech blog, but I'm a big fan of Instagram's close friends feature. At this point, all social media platforms need to have a similar function. I think close friends-like lists on Twitter would save a lot of people from embarrassment and also make Twitter a lot more readable (ie people saying what they really want to share vs sharing what will get them engagement from the largest audience possible).

I also definitely see the appeal (and am a fan) of small garden social platforms, like Peach, that are essentially one level up from a group chat and one step down from a wide-scale social network.

In this time of social distancing, I've noticed people becoming a lot more extreme on their close friends list. By extreme, I mean I'm seeing posts that are more opinionated, funnier and most notably, more nude. It's entertaining! People who have been lightly flirty on stories for years are now going all out. I think it can be chalked up to a mix of boredom, fear and a certain amount of "fuck it" factor.

I do wonder how this whole experience is going to change the way we post online. I feel like once you cross certain thresholds with what you share online, you don't really go back. I guess certain people drop off social media after putting out the most intense versions of themselves but I don't feel like there's any end point here for most people (especially if it's in a close friends kind of moment).

Has anyone else noticed this? Have you personally been more free with what you're sharing? Have you finally sent that one DM you've been meaning to send? As always, share in the comments below.