Instagram to make it easy to find local businesses

Instagram's latest update plans to make it easier for users to find local businesses or attractions by adding a search map that lets you "discover popular local businesses near you," according to an Instagram story by Mark Zuckerberg. The map will give you a list of nearby places and allow you to view posts about a specific location or only certain types of businesses.

There are a few ways to get to the map: If someone tags a place in a post or story, you can tap the tag and hit "view location" to go to the location's page. If you move around the map, you can search the area to see what is nearby. You can also search for places (including entire cities) in the Explore tab. Tapping a place search result will take you to it on the map.

After searching an area, you can use filters to narrow your search results, so you only see restaurants, bars, parks, or other types of places. You can also save locations if you want to refer to them later. (You can access saved places by going to your profile, tapping the hamburger menu in the top right corner, and tapping Saved.)

The company began testing the updated map last year in certain countries, but as per Zuckerberg's Story on Tuesday, it's now widely available.

Instagram has been adding various e-commerce features to its app in recent months, and the map feature feels like another move to make the platform friendlier to businesses, albeit brick-and-mortar ones. Given that Facebook already suggests certain types of businesses on its places pages and how many Meta features it has been sharing between its platforms, it wouldn't be surprising to see a similar map feature appear in other Meta apps soon.