Much to this writer’s surprise and delight, Instagram has launched a Snapchat-like ‘Stories’ feature. Why is it so surprising to wake up to this app update? Well, in what can be deemed as an embarrassing move by a social media addict, I had once messaged Mr Zuckerberg (Yes, anyone can do that on Facebook), to include a stories feature on Instagram. Below is a screenshot of my message to him, sent in June 2016, asking for a similar feature to collate photos and videos in a single folder. I had called it ‘Instant Stories’, Facebook calls it ‘Instagram Stories’.
Who knew that I and Facebook were thinking on the same lines. Now, with that most irrelevant piece of information out of the way, let’s find out what Instagram Stories is all about.
The new feature lets users share multiple photos and videos in the form of a slideshow, apart from their regular posts. Each slideshows will be dubbed as ‘Your Story’, and will disappear after 24 hours, post which it won’t appear anywhere on your profile or grid. Users will also be able to add text, emoticons and drawings to their images and videos on ‘Stories’, just like Snapchat.
A bar at the top of your Instagram feed will show stories from the people and accounts you follow. You can add to your own story by pressing the + sign on the top left corner of the app screen. Filters can be applied to images and videos in your story by swiping left to select the filter of your choice.
Again similar to Snapchat, stories can be navigated by tapping and swiping left & right. But, unlike regular Instagram posts, users will not be able to like or comment on stories. On the other hand, users can swipe up to see who viewed their stories and even hide them from people who they don’t want seeing the same.
So try out Instagram stories and let us know what you think of the new feature in our comments section below.