Instagram has finally relented and now offers a simple way to add multiple links to your profile. Before now, you could only have one link in your profile, but on Tuesday, the platform started allowing up to five.
But take note: The links won’t show individually. Instead, only one will appear on your profile, with the others accessible via a link.
While it’s a welcome development for creators, the change will be a blow for “link in bio” providers like Linktree and Beacons that offer a workaround on platforms where only one link is allowed.
Creators have long been calling on Instagram for a simple way to add multiple links to their profile, and following around six months of testing, the Meta-owned company has finally delivered.
Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said it was “probably one of the most requested features we’ve had,” while Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said in a post demonstrating the new feature: “Sorry it took so long.”
The “one link only” approach adopted by many social media platforms seems to be an attempt to keep visitors within the app for longer. The thinking is that with multiple links, users have more temptation to select one of them, but with just one link, there’s less chance of this happening. Instagram appears to have found a compromise by showing only the first link, with additional ones accessible via a single tap.
How to add multiple links
To add multiple links, go to your profile page, select Edit profile > Links > Add external link. Next, enter the URLs and link titles, and select Done. Finally, drag the link that you want to display on your profile to the top of the list of your entered links. The others will be accessible via a link placed next to your featured one.
