Instagram allowing some folks to post their Stories on WhatsApp

Facebook is no stranger to cross-pollination. After all, the social network made it easier to post Instagram Stories to Facebook this past October. Now, Facebook looks to allow the same thing with WhatsApp, at least for some people.

Brazilian blog Tecnoblog reported that some people were able to post their Instagram Stories as a WhatsApp Status. The feature is seemingly based on WhatsApp’s publicly-available code that makes it possible for third-party apps to integrate WhatsApp messaging.

Even though it could not confirm the nuts and bolts of it all, TechCrunch confirmed the feature with a spokesperson:

We are always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you.

Based on an image sent to Tecnoblog, users will have the option to share to WhatsApp from the Instagram share screen. However, they still need to tap “send” on WhatsApp for the Story to be posted, and there is a visual indicator on the bottom right to let people know it came from Instagram.

As TechCrunch points out, here are several reasons why Facebook is testing the ability to post Instagram Stories on WhatsApp, the first being for Stories to generate more traffic and possibly increase the number of active users. Facebook could also use the feature as a means to have people use WhatsApp Status more. It doesn’t seem like it’s lacking for active users — Facebook said WhatsApp Status has over 300 million daily active users — but it never hurts to have more people onboard.

Finally, Facebook might be cross-pollinating its apps in an effort to not just increase the amount of time you spend on them, but also better push folks from one app to the other. After all, once this feature becomes official, you can create one Story on Instagram and share it to Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

As already stated, the feature doesn’t appear to be widespread just yet, though we’ll keep you updated if or when that changes.