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Meet your virtual insta-pet
Instagram is experimenting with an innovative new feature called “Pals,” which introduces a virtual pet sticker for Stories. This feature allows users to add a virtual pet to their Stories, and the pet’s growth is influenced by the number of likes the Story receives. Additionally, “Pals” may include interactive elements, enabling viewers to “play” with the digital animal.
The new “Pals” feature
The concept was first revealed a few months ago by renowned reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who shared an image of the in-development sticker.
Recently, Paluzzi provided further insights with additional images of the feature, clarifying that “Pals” is not intended to enhance photos of actual pets. Instead, it functions more like a Tamagotchi within Instagram, adding a playful and engaging element to the platform.
Activate user engagement
Despite the excitement surrounding this potential new feature, key details about its functionality remain unclear. For instance, it is not yet known if the pet’s growth will be visible to all users or personalized based on individual interactions. Nevertheless, the idea behind “Pals” is to boost engagement, drawing inspiration from popular trends like “Pokemon Go” and Snapchat’s message “Streaks.” While some might view it as engagement bait, it has the potential to become widely popular, particularly among younger users.
Given the success of these similar digital engagement strategies, it’s easy to see the potential appeal of “Pals.” This feature taps into the same psychological triggers that drive users to engage with these other platforms. By introducing “Pals,” Instagram aims to retain and captivate this audience, offering a fun and interactive way to keep them engaged on the platform.
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