Today, Instagram is rolling out a new site-wide feature for adding external links to user profiles. The system works the same way as Linktree and is seen as a direct challenge to the service, as well as the likes of Beacons and other “link in bio” providers.

Meta announced that users can now add up to five links to their Instagram profile bios, directing followers to any external content they like, including online businesses, promoted brands, causes they care about, or even profiles on competing social media platforms.

Services like Linktree came into existence mainly because many social media companies used to prevent users from adding external links to other sites over fears they would be helping to direct traffic to content outside their platforms.

In the current climate, Instagram likely sees expanded access to links as a competitive advantage, potentially luring creators back to its app from the likes of TikTok.

Using The Feature

To use the feature, users need to tap the “Edit profile” icon, followed by “Links”, then “Add external link.” After adding a URL, it’s possible to drag and drop links in the order that users want them to appear.

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As well as allowing links to external websites, Instagram also lets users link to their Facebook profile via a dedicated option. This official Meta link has a more professional appearance, complete with a Facebook icon and text description label.

Functionality

Instagram’s bio links don’t open in a separate browser window but stay inside the Instagram app. If users want to move to their built-in browsers, they must tap the three-dot menu at the top of the page and hit “open in system browser”.

The highly-requested new Instagram feature was announced by Mark Zuckerberg on his broadcast channel — itself a relatively new feature that we reported on recently, allowing creators to send messages to their entire fanbase.