If you have avoided Instagram because you have been uncomfortable with posting your photos for all to see, and haven't figured out how to private your profile, this new update will make this social network more enjoyable for you.

You can now send the beautifully filtered square sized photos privately to friends on your follow list without all your followers seeing your photo. This is great news because there have been so many instances where I wanted to send something silly to someone in particular but haven't because I didn't want all my followers to see. 

1. The inbox is not located on the top right of your feed view:

2. Once you are in there you can click the "+" to start sending a new photo

3. Now it's time to filter your photo - how cute is this cat!!! I also love the Nashville filter!

4. Now all you need to do is write a caption or message and pick through your list of friends and people you follow. Your facebook friends will be on your "suggested" list with people you are following showing under. My friends names and identities have been protected with smiley faces :D

5. Click send and it'll appear in your inbox as being sent :)

To see this in action you can watch this beautifully produced video introducing the new feature:

You can also watch Kevin Systrom's keynote introducing this new feature too:

I think this feature will encourage a lot more private people to start using instagram. However I also feel it will reduce the amount of pictures that will be uploaded publicly, now that people have an option to do so privately.

Do you currently use instagram? What do you think about this new feature, will you be using this or do you find it unnecessary?