Instagram now lets you see when your friends are online

Now your friends can see exactly how much time you spend lurking on Instagram.

Instagram announced Thursday the rollout of a new feature that will let your followers see when you're using the app. The concept is similar to Facebook Messenger: when someone you follow or have previously messaged with, is "active" in the app, Instagram will show a small green bubble next to their name to let you know that they're online.

Instagram explained that the goal of the feature is to make it easier for users to chat within the app.

"This update gives you the ability to have more of those realtime conversations while giving you the control to hide your status altogether," the company wrote in a blog post. Read more...