Instagram users mistake new question feature to be anonymous

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Instagram's latest feature has resulted in confusion among its users, as the majority of people asked impolite and rude questions to people's stories, mistaking them to be anonymous.

This week Instagram released a new feature similar to sites like Ask.fm and the now-defunct Formspring, where users could ask each other anonymous questions with the answers made public. Instagram's version of this feature has one major difference - the questions are not anonymous.

According to a report by The Guardian, such sites are used by some people to secretly tell or ask something they would otherwise be too nervous to say in public. However, one major drawback is that it can also be used for online bullying and harassment.

Users are confused as Instagram initially claimed that only questions, not usernames, would be displayed. Fuelling this confusion further is an additional feature where, if the original user decides to share a question publicly, he/she has the option to hide the name of the person who had asked the question. This, in turn, has resulted in many people mistakenly believing that their questions are anonymous.

Fortunately, this question feature can be customised. At present, most people are using it with the default 'ask me a question' option but it could be used for less dangerous requests in the future.