If you’re not a regular Instagram user, sometimes the terminology can be confusing. There are lots of acronyms being used in the app with little explanation of what they mean. Even if Instagram is your go-to social media app, you might encounter lingo you’re unfamiliar with. If you’ve seen someone referring to a certain three letters and asked yourself: What does CFS mean on Instagram, not to worry. Here’s what that acronym means, as well as how to use it.
What is the meaning of CFS?
This acronym can actually have two meanings. It can mean either ‘Close Friends Setting’ or ‘Close Friends Story.’ The Close Friends feature was implemented in 2018 to give users more control over their privacy. Prior to this function being implemented, users had to manually deselect any followers they didn’t want to see a specific story, which was time-consuming and difficult.
With Close Friends, users were able to pre-select a group of people who were the closest to them so that anytime they wanted to share a more personal story with only this group, they could do so simply by using this feature. Distinguishing between someone’s followers as a whole and the people they interact with regularly was helpful for a multitude of reasons. It allowed users to be able to have a significant amount of followers while also maintaining privacy and being able to use the stories feature to communicate casually.
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How the Close Friends List works
If you don’t already have a close friends list, here is how you can make one. First, tap on your profile icon. Then, select the menu option from your profile page. The menu will list an option called ‘Close Friends.’ Select this, and then type the name or handle of someone you want to add to your list. Once you find them, tick the circle next to their profile. Add as many people as you’d like, then hit done. Now your close friends list is all set, and anytime you want to share something with just them, you can simply select the close friends option at the bottom of your story.
You can tell whether or not you are on someone’s close friends list based on how their stories appear. If you see stories pop up with a green circle on occasion, that means you are on that person’s list. If you’d rather not be on someone’s close friends list, you can’t remove yourself from the list, however you can either ask them to remove you, mute them, or block their account.
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