One more step up on the ladder to becoming more like its parent company Facebook, Instagram announced a new feature today that could change how you share your life by allowing you to choose who you’re sharing certain photos with.

Perhaps your friends make fun of you for taking selfies late at night with dramatic lighting when you’ve been thinking seriously about the meaning of life. But there’s a burning desire inside you to share that photo with someone, anyone who could possibly appreciate it. And it just so happen your mother just loves any photo you’re in, especially when you wear you hair away from your face the way she likes.

Or maybe all the rest of your friends get a good chuckle from the seven cat photos you’ve posted in a row, but you don’t want that new guy/gal you’re into to know how much time you spend capturing Brixton MacFuzzypaw’s good side.

With Instagram Direct, which rolled out today, users can choose to send photos directly to whichever friends they follow. Any photos shared with you, as well as those you send to pals, will show up in a new inbox in the upper righthand corner of the home screen.

It works just like regular Instagram: After you’ve taken a photo and put whichever old-timey or sepia or whatever filter on it, you can select DIRECT on the “Share To” page where you choose whether it’s going on Facebook, Twitter or wherever else. That way you can select users (who you must be following) and send it off just to them without it appearing on your public feed.

If you receive photos from someone you don’t follow, it’ll end up in your “Requests” area where you can decide whether or not you want to accept the photo. We’re going to guess that no, That One Floppy Haired Guy In The Most Popular Boy Band Right Now isn’t going to accept your photos but at least you can try.

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