Not surprisingly, the similarity between Instagram Stories and Snapchat’s own Stories feature has been pointed out by many commentators, as the latter service also lets users post images and videos that self-destruct in 24 hours.
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And here’s the kicker – you can share Instagram Stories with “with just who you want” – so that’s photos and videos which self-destruct after a period of time, shared privately between users.
To view someone’s story, just tap on their profile photo. You have to send them a direct message if you want to say something about it.
Instagram users can’t like or comment on Stories. If you don’t want your Story to be available to everyone, you can set your account to private and your Story will only be viewable by your friends. What’s better is that users can choose to hide their entire story from anyone, even if they follow them.
You can view who has seen each photo and video by swiping up when watching your story.
The company revamped its look at the start of summer and has unveiled a new feature called “Instagram Stories”.
Back in November 2013, Facebook reportedly tried to buy nascent social media app Snapchat for billion (it now has a valuation of $20 billion), but the offer was turned down.
“Instagram has always been a place to share the moments you want to remember”, the company wrote on their blog.
Instagram Stories will show up at the top of your feed. It’s a big deal because it’s one of the few platforms that lets real estate pros target specific groups of people.
Is a new way of viewing the same photos going to help Instagram match Snapchat’s runaway success? On both apps, these streams disappear after 24 hours. If a story has been updated, a colorful ring will appear around the user’s profile photo.
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The move could ignite a head-to-head battle between Instagram, owned by Facebook since 2012, and Snapchat, which have previously played in each other’s territory in the fight for the elusive eyes of millennials.
