Instagram unveils “Repost” button: What the new sharing tool means for brands and creators

New Delhi: Instagram has officially rolled out its repost feature, allowing users to share public Reels and grid posts directly to their feeds, a move that mirrors X’s retweet functionality. 

The feature introduces a dedicated “Reposts” tab on user profiles, enabling followers to view shared content in a streamlined format. 

The launch, which began rolling out globally on August 6, 2025, is aimed at boosting engagement for creators, businesses, and brands.

What does it mean for brands?

For marketers, the new button creates a low-cost distribution channel that blends paid, owned and earned media. Any fan, partner or employee can now push a brand’s creative into their own network with one tap, bypassing Story’s 24-hour expiry and preserving original links, captions and brand assets by default. 

Because reposted content is also eligible for algorithmic recommendations, a single organic share can snowball into reach well beyond the brand’s follower base. Expect social-media playbooks to add explicit “Tap Repost to share” calls-to-action and employee-advocacy drives that seed campaigns through staff accounts before paid boosting.

Attribution travelling intact also lowers plagiarism risk and encourages brands to loosen user-generated-content policies, confident that logo and handle credits will stay visible. Yet the same mechanic can magnify mistakes: a backlash meme or off-colour post can ricochet just as quickly. Crisis-monitoring protocols and rapid-response copy decks will need updating to match the new velocity.

What does it mean for influencers?

Creators gain a fresh top-of-funnel: a repost from a brand or celebrity can expose a micro-influencer to audiences that previously felt out of reach. Talent managers are already drafting contracts that bundle guaranteed brand reposts alongside traditional deliverables such as static posts or Stories. Instagram will break out Repost reach inside its Insights dashboard later this quarter, giving influencers firmer numbers to justify fees, especially useful for nano-creators pitching performance-based deals.

But over-use carries reputational risk. Feeds cluttered with second-hand content could feel Twitter-like, eroding the carefully curated aesthetic many lifestyle influencers trade on. 

Finding the balance between native posts and strategic reposts will be essential to avoid follower fatigue. The repost feature allows users to reshare public posts and Reels with added personal text, appearing in followers’ feeds like regular posts. 

Brands and creators that design thumb-stopping visuals and clear, share-worthy hooks will ride that wave. Those who treat Reposts as just another ad placement may discover their messages muted by the very communities they hope to engage.

More details

Unlike the temporary nature of Stories, which disappear after 24 hours, reposted content offers lasting visibility, with a “Repost” icon (a paper airplane with a circular arrow) beneath eligible posts. 

Instagram’s Help Centre clarified that reposts are collected in a new profile tab, making it easy to track shared content. 

Internal documents made public during Meta’s 2025 antitrust trial revealed that just 7% of Instagram interactions involve content from friends, a sharp contrast to TikTok or X, where friction-free resharing fuels conversation. By adding an official Repost tool, Instagram aims to make feeds feel “social” again, nudging users to amplify one another’s posts rather than passively scrolling through algorithmic recommendations.

The platform advises users to seek permission before reposting content not tagged to them, emphasising respect for creators’ rights to avoid copyright issues.