Photo sharing service Instagram could be poised to expand into email with rumours circulating that the social media service is beavering away on @instagram.com email addresses.

Techcrunch speculate that the new messaging feature could be rolled out soon after an e-commerce firm unearthed a number of @instagram.com email id’s during database work.

The move follows the introduction of a similar system by Facebook back in 2010 with the introduction of @facebook.com email id’s, fuelling speculation that the social media giant might want to repeat that success now that it owns Instagram.

It is believed that Instagram may also be considering adding IM to its suite of communication tools before the end of the year, taking on the likes of snapchat with private and group messaging features.