Instagram on Tuesday (August 2, 2016), announced its newest feature called Instagram Stories.
According to its official blog post, the new Instagram Stories will let users share multiple pictures and videos that will appear in a slideshow format. In this new feature, users will have access to a new set of creativity tools like text and drawing tools. The stories will only last for 24 hours upon posting.
Also, Instagram users will have the ability to control the privacy of their stories. For instance, if a user sets his account to private, his story will only be visible to his followers and he can also choose to hide it from anyone even if they are followers of his account.
Meanwhile, users will also see stories from other accounts in a bar at the top of their feed. They will notice a colorful ring around the profile photo when it has a new posted story. The touch commands are easy when viewing a story and only a tap is needed to send a private message to the creator of the story through Instagram Direct.
Before Instagram introduced the Instagram Stories, Snapchat was the first to release a similar feature called Snapchat Stories, a tool for photo and video-sharing where the stories also disappear after 24 hours.
In the past, Instagram and Snapchat have sneaked in each other’s territories but Instagram’s move could signal a direct face-off between the two social media platforms.
Instagram’s newest feature is expected to be available globally over the next few weeks on Android and iOS.
(Photo Source: Instagram Blog)
