Stories from people you follow will appear in a bar on the top of your feed.
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The photo and video-sharing app has unveiled Instagram Stories in its latest update – a slideshow feature that’s remarkably similar to the main draw of rival app Snapchat.
The bubbles on top of the feed show the accounts you follow and contain stories from those users.
“Instagram has always been a place to share the moments you want to remember”. There are no “likes” or public comments on story content. The update will rolling out globally on iOS and Android. In an attempt to prevent users from switching to another social network, Instagram seems to have copied a major feature from Snapchat. “People are already creating and sharing more video, so we’re going to make it even easier”, he added.
In an interview with the New York Times, Instagram chief executive Kevin Systrom openly acknowledges that “other companies deserve all the credit” for coming up with the idea of ephemeral messaging, though he doesn’t mention Snapchat by name. If you want to react or say something, you can send them a private message. In fact, other than a few minor tweaks to Instagram’s, the features are nearly exactly the same. This will take you to a full-screen camera view-with both selfie and regular camera capabilities-where you can snap a photo or record a quick video.
The photo-editing tools are also fairly limited – allowing users to add filters and frames to their pictures, but not a lot else. The Facebook-owned app has more than 500 million monthly active users, compared to a total 150 million for Snapchat. From this menu, you can hide the story from select followers and also determine who is allowed to reply to your story.
Usual privacy settings apply to stories so users can ensure only their followers see content if they wish.
But users can’t like or comment on Stories.
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In an official blog, Instagram said that using Stories, users “don’t have to worry about overposting”. Users can also know who has seen their story by swiping up.
