If you think Facebook notifications have gotten too aggressive lately then you better buckle up, because they could soon make an appearance in your Instagram feed.
The photo sharing service is testing a feature that displays Facebook notification badges inside of the Instagram app.
The test adds a big red notification badge to the existing Facebook shortcut on your Instagram profile. Tapping on it launches the Facebook app and directs you to your notifications (the notifications icon gives a small wiggle).
An Instagram spokesperson confirmed the test, but didn’t say when or if the feature might launch more broadly.
Over on Reddit, one user, who claimed to have access to the beta version of the app, posted a screenshot of the latest Facebook notification feature saying it cropped up in the last couple days. But two Mashable reporters, who weren’t using the beta, also had the feature appear on their profiles in the last couple days.
It’s not the first time there’s been a feature that’s merged notifications between the two apps. Last year, Facebook tested a separate feature that pulled Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook notifications into each other’s apps, TechCrunch reported. That feature never launched, but Instagram and Facebook clearly haven’t given up on the idea entirely.
“We’re exploring ways to help people switch more easily between their Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram accounts,” the company told TechCrunch at the time.
For Facebook, the feature could help it capitalize on Instagram’s popularity as Facebook use declines with younger users. But it could also exasperate existing frustrations. Facebook notifications have been getting increasingly aggressive as the social network tries to pull people back into its main app.
