Instagram launched its Stories in August 2016, a Snapchat-inspired feature that allowed users to take photos and add effects to upload them to the social network for a limited time. Since then, stories evolved tremendously and become the flagship feature of Meta's social network.
Now, are you wondering what Instagram Stories are and their main features? Below, you'll discover all you need about stories and how to make the most of their functionalities.
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories are one of the most used features of this social network. They allow you to share photos, videos, and interactive content that automatically disappears after 24 hours. This feature is designed to post temporary content, share spontaneous moments, make polls, interact with your audience, or show a little bit of your day without the post staying permanently on your profile.
When they first came out, Stories offered only some basic features. Nowadays, you can add practically everything: filters, stickers, music, links, polls, drawings, GIFs, hashtags, GPS tags, templates, AR effects, and other elements to make your stories more attractive.
Stories section in Instagram's feed
It should be noted that all Stories are deleted by default after one day. However, they are stored in your profile archive (which only you can access). This option is enabled by default, so if you have not disabled it, you should be able to see all the stories you have published in chronological order.
Section of highlighted stories on an Instagram profile
In addition, Instagram also gives you the option to save your stories in the Highlights section. The highlights section appears in each user's profile, just above your posts. Each account can have 100 highlights folders, each with customized covers and titles. In turn, each featured section can hold up to 100 stories. Highlight Stories stay on your profile as long as you want them to. However, if you reach the limit and add another story, the oldest one will be deleted (do not worry, the app warns you before deleting anything).
Differences between an Instagram post and an Instagram story
Instagram posts and Instagram stories serve different purposes. On the one hand, posts are permanent (unless you delete them), appear on your profile, and can be photos or reels (videos). They also appear in your followers' feeds with options to comment, like, share, save, or post to stories. They are usually more elaborate, such as edited photo albums, professionally finished videos, memories of relevant events, or something else you want to last over time.
On the other hand, stories are temporary posts that disappear after 24 hours (unless you save them to your highlights). They are designed to share everyday moments, surveys, questions, or more interactive, spontaneous, and casual content. In addition, stories appear at the top of the feed, which makes them more visible, and their temporary nature encourages users to consume them faster.
In short, as some say, posts are for showing and stories for talking to your followers. Both have their function depending on what you want to communicate.
What Instagram stories are for
Instagram stories are a quick, visual, and dynamic way to connect with your followers without worrying too much about the permanent aesthetics of your feed. Their content tends to be more spontaneous and less edited, generating a sense of closeness and intimacy with the audience. Usually, this helps form a community with your followers. In addition, you can use them to promote your posts, share important announcements, or increase the visibility of an account.
An interactive Instagram story
On the other hand, stories are great for Instagram. In the first week since their launch, daily active users increased by 3.7%. One month later, 100 million people viewed other users' stories daily. Today, over 1 billion people use Instagram daily.
Stories act as a magnet for daily users (many of them with FOMO) and are also an important source of revenue for Instagram thanks to advertising. For Meta, it's a goldmine: the users create the content, and brands pay huge sums of money to advertise in the stories.
How Instagram stories work
As we have indicated, stories are dynamic and spontaneous content that you can use to connect with your audience in a closer and more real way. Stories are posted quickly, can be customized with tons of details and edits and, after 24 hours, are lost in the vastness of the social network (unless you've saved them to your highlights). While they are active, followers can reply with messages or quick reactions. But how is this content published and interacted with?
How to post an Instagram story
You have two options for posting an Instagram story: swipe your finger to the right on the feed screen or tap the new post button (the one with the plus symbol in the bottom menu) to access the Story menu.
From there, your imagination is the limit. You can post videos, clips with AR filters, images, photos with music, songs, texts, tweets, boomerangs, collages, GIFs, memories, Instagram posts, and more. Once you have decided what to post, you can add effects, stickers, tags, questions, polls, links, hashtags, donations, a countdown, and even stickers created from your Meta avatar.
How to view and interact with Instagram stories
To view an Instagram story, tap on the little circle framing the user's photo and let yourself go. The stories automatically switch from one to the other after 15 seconds (or one minute, in the case of videos recorded or uploaded by the user).
The activity button that shows us who have seen the story
While viewing a story, you can send a reaction, like, share (with certain limits), or send a private message to the user who posted it. In this regard, it is important to explain that, contrary to what happens with photos and other publications, the user who uploaded the story can check who saw their stories through the Activity button (even if your account is private). There is no way to view stories without leaving this “trace” unless you use a third-party app such as Ghosty. However, it is advisable to be careful with apps of this kind, since they request your access credentials, which might cause serious security problems.
