In his weekly Q&A last week, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri was asked something that instantly caught our attention: “Can Instagram track screenshots, and could that become part of IG Insights?”
“That is actually interesting; I haven’t heard that request before. I’ll see. I’ll talk to the team and see what they think.”
Not a promise, but the fact he hasn’t ruled it out means it’s on the table. If Instagram were to make screenshot tracking part of its analytics, it could pave the way to an entirely new way for us to measure resonance, especially now that engagement habits have shifted.
Screenshots travel. A lot.
Back in 2015, Twitter admitted that tweets were seen by way more people than its official analytics suggested. According to Social Media Today, the platform reached nearly double its logged-in audience once you factored in screenshots and logged-out views. That means half a billion extra eyeballs weren’t being counted in “traditional” analytics.
It’s the same reason people are still joking that “Twitter screenshots keep Instagram alive.” Posts escape their native platforms and find second lives across Stories, chats, and group feeds. As this Threads post points out, the screenshot-to-share pipeline is one of the most underrated ways content travels today.
Twitter (now X) has tried to get in front of this. In 2022, they tested a prompt that appeared whenever you went to screenshot a tweet, nudging you to share it in-app or copy a link instead. Now, according to Social Media Today, X is even experimenting with branded watermarks (“X.com”) on screenshots so the app gets visibility, whether or not people actually click back.
And the wild part: on iOS, this kind of tracking is technically possible. Apple literally has a system notification that can detect when a screenshot happens. In theory, Instagram could build screenshot tracking directly into Insights.
The way people interact on IG has changed. Direct engagement, likes, comments, and follows just aren’t happening at the same rate. Instead:
This is why Instagram has already switched its reporting emphasis. “Views” now sit at the top of the metric hierarchy. But screenshots could represent something deeper: not just a view, but a capture of intent.
Think about it: when someone screenshots your post, it usually means one of three things:
That’s a stronger signal of resonance than a passive scroll or even a casual “like.”
If Instagram rolls this out, it could give marketers, creators, and brands a new lens on performance:
For agencies and social teams, it could also add a fresh KPI for reporting. Imagine telling a client, “This carousel not only got 20K views and 1,500 saves, but it also triggered 800 screenshots.” That instantly communicates staying power and private shareability.
Mosseri didn’t confirm anything, but the fact that he’s curious enough to bring it to his team makes this worth watching. It lines up with Instagram’s push toward metrics that capture real attention over vanity stats. And in the attention economy, screenshots are gold.
So here’s the question: even before Instagram tracks it, are you creating content that’s screenshot-worthy? Because whether or not Insights is measuring it, your audience is already pressing those side + volume buttons more than you think.
