Instagram is adding the ability to leave comments on Instagram Stories, the ephemeral posts that many people use even more than traditional posts these days.
You’ll soon be able to leave comments on Instagram Stories posts
Like Stories, comments will be ephemeral, and only some accounts will be able to leave them.
Like Stories, comments will be ephemeral, and only some accounts will be able to leave them.
Image: Instagram
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Previously, replying to an Instagram story sent a private message visible only to the person who posted the content. The addition of comments adds a more public way to respond to Stories — anyone who can view a users’ Stories can also see the comments. The ability to comment in the first place is more limited, though: for private accounts, only people that the poster follows back can leave comments, and for public accounts, anyone the poster follows can comment. Instagram explains how most of it works in this video.
Just like Stories, the comments are temporary and will last for up to 24 hours; Instagram spokesperson Emily Norfolk says users will have the option to turn comments on or off for any story they share. Users can preserve comments by saving the story post as a highlight.
Instagram has steadily added new features to surfaces like Reels and Stories that seem to suggest the company views them as key places for user engagement with friends, not just casual content meant to be scrolled through.
Earlier this summer, the platform added disappearing “Notes” (essentially comments) to grid posts and Reels, meant to draw more attention to how your friends are engaging with content. Those disappearing notes expire after three days, and users can choose who’s able to see them — either mutual follows or a curated list of close friends. Temporary notes are overlaid on top of the post, making comments from friends more prominent.
Instagram also announced today that some likes on posts will now appear more prominently as floating hearts, similar to how they appear on the disappearing notes.
Update, September 4th: Added details about who can view and leave comments on stories and how comments will be archived.
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