Instagram’s latest feature aims to boost user interaction within Stories. The social media platform now allows followers to comment on each other’s Stories, making the experience more community-focused, akin to livestreaming where users can engage in larger discussions.
A few users have already spotted the feature, including marketing strategist Taylor Loren (@taylor.loren on Threads). Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also posted a screenshot in the company’s Channel (see below).
Instagram notes that users will be able to disable the option to have comments posted on their Stories, if they prefer.
The new feature seems to have been inspired by user behavior. Instagram head, Adam Mosseri, has previously expressed how the Stories format is one of the app’s most popular features and is more widely used than posting content to the main feed. Private messaging is also highly favored by many users who prefer engaging in closed groups with their friends.
The addition of public comments to Stories is part of Instagram’s ongoing efforts to increase engagement on the platform. Most recently, the company added the ability to add music to profiles. There’s also a new feature called “Reveal” that allows users to hide Stories so that followers can only see them after sending a DM.
