Now you can instantly add friends on Instagram by scanning their name tags.This feature enables you to scan in another users’ code via the Instagram camera, which brings up a preview of their profile and a quick follow link. Name tags are more or less similar to Snap codes on Snapchat, or Messenger Codes on Facebook Messenger – in fact, almost every platform now has some variation of scannable codes to quickly connect.

Let’s understand why are social platforms so excited to keep pushing QR code options, despite their apparent low usage?

With QR code-enabled transactions totaling more than $1.65 trillion in China and Japan in 2016 could be one of the probable reasons social platforms see it as a significant opportunity with over a billion plus users.

In Japan, the App saw a 43% increase in usage last year. With such results, the name tag codes makes more sense, as it is easier for users everywhere to connect. They’re now available globally on both iOS and Android devices and could be an interesting consideration for brand campaigns