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How do you dm somebody on instagram


How to Message Someone on Instagram and Chat Privately

  • You can message someone on Instagram through the platform's direct messaging feature, which lets you reach out to anyone with an Instagram account. 
  • Users don't need to follow you, nor do you need to follow them to message each other on Instagram.  
  • You can message someone by swiping left on the Home screen and then creating a new message or tapping "Message" on someone's profile page.  
  • Instagram messages allow you to add multiple recipients to send a message to several people at once. 
  • This story is part of Business Insider's Guide to Instagram.

Instagram allows you to communicate publicly and privately with followers, mutuals, and other Instagram users. That includes sending private messages to anyone. 

You don't need to follow or be followed by that user to use the app's private messaging feature, and no one can see these messages except the recipients. 

Not only can you send text and images to someone, but you can send a message to multiple people at once.  

Here's how to message someone privately on Instagram.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Apple)
Samsung Galaxy S10 (From $699.99 at Walmart)

How to message someone on Instagram from the app home screen

1. Start the Instagram app on your mobile device and then swipe to the left from the Home screen or tap the paper airplane icon in the top-right corner.

2. Tap the New Message icon at the top right of the screen. 

The New Message icon is in the top right next to the Video Chat icon. Dave Johnson/Business Insider

3. Add each person you want to send the message to. You can select one Instagram user or add multiple recipients. 

You can also add someone by searching for them using the Search field. Dave Johnson/Business Insider

4. Tap "Chat" at the top right of the screen. 

5. Enter the message, add an image, audio, video, or Giphy.

Write your message, add media, and then tap "Send." Dave Johnson/Business Insider

6. When you're done, tap "Send."

How to message someone from their Instagram profile page

1. In the Instagram app, find and open the profile page of the person you want to message. 

2. Tap "Message."

Use the "Message" button on a user's profile page to communicate with them. Dave Johnson/Business Insider

3. Enter the message and add an image, video, audio, or Giphy if you want. 

4. When you're ready to send it, tap "Send."

 

  • How to delete Instagram private messages, by deleting a conversation or unsending a message

  • How to make your Instagram private and hide your account from everyone except the followers you approve

  • How to delete a comment on Instagram from your computer or mobile device

  • How to tag someone in an Instagram post, story, or comment

  • How to post on Instagram from your phone or a computer, using the official app or an internet browser

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.

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Slide Into DMs - How To Flirt Instagram Message Guide

You've probably heard that "it goes down in the DM," but what is "it" and what exactly "goes down"? Trolling, sure, but also sometimes flirting. Look, you're probably going to use social media to research your online dating matches anyways, so if you like what you see, going straight for the DM just skips a step. But take caution, for this move isn't as simple as it seems: People are sensitive about their DMs, and sliding requires that your moves be smooth, so it demands a little more effort than just a double-tap or swipe right.

Ilana*, 24, who lives in New York City, met her boyfriend because he slid into her Instagram DMs. As the story goes, she listed her Instagram handle in her Bumble dating profile, and he found and followed her. "He slid into my DMs like three times, but I didn't see them," Ilana says. She doesn't remember exactly what the messages said, but she thinks it was some form of "Hey" with the hugging emoji. "So finally I answered being like, 'Sorry I never check these things!' and we started chatting." They've been together for the past 10.5 months.

This low-lift, friendly message worked for Ilana's partner, but you could just figure out something that you both have in common and lead with that, says Michelle Hope, a sexologist in New York City. "Use their interests and align it with yours," she says. People put photos online so other people see (and comment, and like) them. DMing a photo of them at the finish line of a running race and asking, "Hey, I was running that race too, what was your time?" makes sense and shows you already have something fun in common.

One perk of DM-sliding is that you can skip a formal greeting, because the person can just look at your profile and see who you are, says Samantha Burns, LMHC, a dating relationships expert. "Just jump right into a comment or question," she says. Your thoughts about a link they tweeted or event they put on their Instagram story will make more of an impression than a generic, "Hey, what's up?" And if you want to send a sexy photo, just think about it before you do, Hope says. Even though basically everyone has and sends sexy photos, your recipient might not be expecting it from a total stranger right off the bat.

Barring the possibility of fate, Ilana's modern love story might have been successful because she and her partner are both pretty open and active on social media. Ilana used to model, and her partner has some 15K followers, so in a way it was sort of a game-recognize-game moment. "Knowing him now and looking back on it, it wasn't creepy at all," she says.

If your goal is an IRL meet-up, Hope recommends having three message exchanges before you ask them out, and be prepared for rejection. "I have to warn people that there's a probability this person [is dating] somebody, so you have to be upfront," she says. And even if you do meet up, they might not be exactly how you pictured them based on their social accounts, although that's a risk you take in any online dating scenario. And don't give away any more information than you would on your social profiles until you meet in person or feel comfortable enough with them, she adds.

Ilana says she thinks DM-sliding can be better than "traditional" online dating, because her conversation with her boyfriend-to-be felt more organic and less stilted than it would have in the confines of a dating app. Was she creeped out? "It was def weird that he was so persistent, but that's just how he is with everything," she says. "But hey, look at us now." The moral: Always check your DMs; you never know who might slide in.

Here are a few phrases that will help you slide in.

*Name has been changed to protect her identity.

13 words and phrases that disfigure your Instagram

A person without Instagram is already a rare (if not endangered) species. You can publish a photo once every six months, once a year, or even keep your account empty. It is much worse to be an active insta-blogger and write posts with errors. We announce an Instagram fight against illiteracy!

Correct: I will write in my Instagram

Yes, we write Instagram with a lowercase letter and Cyrillic. We suggest you do the same! If only because Instagram has long ceased to be an outlandish app name that someone may not know. This happens with many social networks and instant messengers. Over time, in colloquial speech (in writing too), some words lose quotes and capital letters, as they become common nouns, not names. It's clear to everyone. nine0003

Now about the error. Instagram is the social network in which every fifth (but this is inaccurate statistics) strives to double the letter "m". Although there is no reason for this (yes, we know that autocorrect sometimes works this way). The original name of the Instagram app - where is the doubling? So we don't notice. And don't forget about declination: live without instagram, follow on instagram.

Correct: I'm a blogger with my mom

Well done with my mom! Well, except that the blogger is spelled with one "g". It seems that everyone was mistaken in this word when LJ bloggers appeared en masse. The mistake, in fact, is also understandable: foreign words are characterized by doubling the root consonant before the suffix - blog => blogger. In Russian, the practice is different, and doublings are not saved - blog => blogger. Be literate and don't trust the Russian Instagram, which is written in the "blogger" profile. This is the wrong tracing paper from English. nine0003

Correct: Do you have an Instagram account?

It's not we who are mocking, but the Russian language. We suffer every day. Yes, the word "account" comes from the English account. When switching to Russian, most borrowings really lose one consonant (office has become an office, and blogger has become a blogger), but not in this case. The account is written with two "k".

Correct: don’t forget to put the hashtag #photooftheday

If you still don’t know, then you should know: the Russian language is merciless to the letter “e”, more precisely, the Russian Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Most of the words that you really want to write with “e” are written in Russian with “e”. Facebook, Halloween, tag, caching, travel and that hashtag. At the same time, these words are pronounced firmly, through the sound [e]. nine0003

Ahhh. Worse than another popular greeting on Instagram, which sounds like “DD!”. No, this does not apply to the DDT group. This is such a clever abbreviation for "Good afternoon!", Which, apparently, is copied from the English abbreviation GM - Good morning! A sure way to lose followers. Replace with a simple "hello", "good afternoon" or "hello".

Correct: in my last post I wrote

Thank you for not being "in the last post"! Yes, "extreme" in the meaning of "last" is very bad. This has already been written about many times, the turn of the post has come. There is one more post in our life. Fasting in the meaning of "positions", fasting - "place and observation groups", and there is also fasting for believers. So these posts in the prepositional case (more precisely, it is called "local case") have the ending "-y"; nine0003

We are interested in a completely different "post" when we want to talk about a post on a social network. In this case, the local case is not required and the traditional letter "e" is used at the end. The Gramota.ru website confirms.

Correct: I like the way you write

Our favorite verb, in which even quite literate people make mistakes because they are inattentive or in a hurry. In fact, you can write both “write” and “write”. It's a matter of context. In the imperative mood, we write through "and": "Write comments!". In the second person plural we write "e": "You write with errors." Another simple explanation: under stress we write "and", in an unstressed position - "e". The same rule is followed by the verbs look for / look for and say / say. nine0003

Correct: tag two friends in the comments

It seems that someone forgot the long version of this word - "comment". There are as many "m"s in the short colloquial version as there are in the long one (as in the English version of comment).

Correct: look in my gallery

On Instagram, you can post multiple photos in one post — this feature is called a "gallery". The word comes from the Latin galleria - yes, those same two "l" that everyone falls for. However, the Russian "gallery" has come down to us not from English (gallery), but from French (galerie), where one "l" is visible. The French will definitely remember this dictionary word quickly, but the Russian English will have to try hard. nine0003

Correct: 15-second story

Instagram has not only “galleries”, but also “stories”, which are often called “stories” in the English manner. They usually last 15 seconds. You can do less or more on IGTV. The main thing is not to lose the hyphen and remember that it is written like this: 15-second stories, 5-minute video.

Correct: the product is in stock

An important word for those who sell something on Instagram. There are no dresses, trousers and bed linen available. Goods can only be "in stock". Rather, check your favorite sellers, and then think about whether you still want to order something from them or not. nine0003

Correct: check yourself against the checklist

850 thousand results for the Google query "checklist" and 195 thousand for the "checklist". Moreover, the strange hyphenated version is not only popular, but also included in Lopatin's spelling dictionary. Go through the checklist of this literacy and check if everything is in order with your Instagram literacy.

Correct: wrote to her in direct

The most controversial word here. Direct or Direct? The fact is that even in English (direct) there are two pronunciation options: in Great Britain they say "direct", and in America - "direct". There is no strict dictionary fixation in the Russian language yet, but preference is given to "direct", in which the stress falls on the second syllable. By the way, the company "Yandex" also calls its project "Yandex. Direct". nine0003

Ways to delete a comment on Instagram or hide it from prying eyes

Almost every Instagram user* at least once had a question about how to hide comments. Someone needs to delete their own comment, and someone else's. There are many reasons for this. Someone gets in the way of haters, somewhere just a lot of spam, or just don't like someone's opinion. Or maybe you don't want to advertise your own comment. Let's see how this can be done and to whom such a function is available. nine0003

What is the difference between deleting a comment and hiding it

Not everyone knows the difference between these actions. And she is, and rather big. If a comment is deleted, it will disappear from the page and never appear on it again. But this does not prevent the user from re-writing even the same comment under the same post.

Hiding comments is a more interesting task. If you configure this tool correctly, you can prohibit a specific person from leaving comments or even hide everything that users write under posts. nine0003

In this case, what will be written will be hidden. This is convenient if outsiders constantly write on the pages in an attempt to promote their own pages.

Another option is to turn off the ability to comment. This method is suitable if there is no desire to read and respond to comments under the post, or it was created on a provocative topic.

How to hide comments for all users at once and on all posts

To close comments on all posts at the same time, you will need to create additional restrictions and set the settings. By default, they are not there so that everyone who looks into the account can leave comments and increase the activity of the profile. But this is not always necessary. nine0003

Let's look at one way to hide comments.

First you need to go to the main profile settings, and then to the "Privacy" tab. After that, you need to go to the section called "Account Privacy".

Usually it is not difficult to find the settings

After all these actions, all that remains is to move the slider next to the name “Closed account” to the active position.

You can turn your account into private and not see strange comments in principle

If everything is done according to the instructions, then only people approved by the account owner will be able to view and comment on all posts. But note that in this case, non-approved users will not only be able to comment on posts, but also generally see posts. This is how the Instagram policy is built*.

But remember that accounts where comments are not allowed often quickly become uninteresting to users.

We put a limit on new posts

Another way to limit post commenting is to set this limit for each new post. Let's take a closer look at how this is done.

  1. a photo for publication or a collage of several pictures is selected;
  2. is being edited, filters are applied and the post is being prepared for publication;
  3. in the last window before publishing, you need to open a special tab called "advanced settings";
  4. a tab will open in which you can turn off comments (by the way, this can be changed later), set preferences and write alternative text (for people with visual impairments). nine0134
The ability to turn off comments appeared not so long ago

How to block or hide comments from one person

But what if only one user's comments are annoying? It turns out that you can only block his comments and prevent him from unsubscribing on the page. If you act from the phone, then it matters on which operating system it works.

For Android users

You need to go to the "Privacy" section, from there - to the "Comments" tab. nine0003 Well, that's it - when the suitors finally got it, we close their comments

Among the lines that open, select "Block comments from".

Let them write to themselves and read them themselves, no one else will see them, except for the authors

When you click on it, he will go to a list of people, among whom it remains just to choose those whose opinion is not pleasant to read. After saving the settings, only they themselves will be able to see their comments. They won't interfere anymore.

In the same tab, you can set the manual filter. In this case, all comments that contain a certain word or phrase will be blocked automatically. nine0003

For those who have an iPhone

First, the user needs to go to the menu, which can be clicked on in the upper right corner of the screen. A small menu will pop up where you need to find the settings and go there.

In the options that open, find "Privacy and Security". In the settings you need to find the item "Manage comments". Further - just like the owners of Android. You need to tap on the "Block comments from" button and in the menu that opens, find everyone whose words you do not want to see. nine0003

Note that the user will not receive any notification of what has happened. If, after adding them to the list, they continue to write comments, then no one will see them except themselves. Left notes will simply disappear by themselves.

From a computer

Of course, a personal computer does not have as many features as a mobile version. But there are some things you can do here. For example, disable commenting for a specific person.

Operation scheme simple:

  • open the profile of a person whose comments you do not want to see;
  • in the upper right corner there is an ellipsis next to the “Subscriptions” item, you should click on it;
  • a window will appear in which it remains to select the item "block this user".

When all these points are completed, he will no longer be able to leave comments on the entries.

What to do if you only want to see comments from a couple of people

Instagram* also has an inverse function. You can allow comments only for a few people, from the rest - to prohibit. This is convenient when the account is personal, but with a popular person. Configured in the same way as when blocking individual identities:

  • open settings;
  • go to the "Privacy" section;
  • click on the line "Allow comments from";
  • a menu will open where you can select specific users who are allowed to leave comments under posts.
Going the other way - we ban everyone, and only a few people will be able to comment

Restricted access: if you need to filter what the user writes

Instagram * has an interesting feature that many other social networks do not have. For example, you can temporarily add a user to a special circle for people whose access is restricted. This is convenient for fans of a famous person who either confess their love or begin to arrange a holivar in the comments. nine0003

The meaning of restricted access is that each user's comment is subject to moderation - the owner of the profile decides whether to publish it or not. You can also hide the status of the correspondence.

To add him to the circle of "special trusted persons" you need to follow a few simple steps:

  • go to the settings section;
  • find the "Privacy" item there;
  • in the "Contacts" part, we are looking for "Accounts with limited access";
    • nine0133 add people whose behavior seems suspicious to it.
A separate category of followers - when every word behind them needs to be double-checked

How to hide comments on Instagram* Live on Mac

Another common situation - you need access to Instagram* Live, but without comments. For this, the Chrome IG Story extension is used. It is not difficult to do this: