Instagram Stories are about to change in a big way with this new feature

One of Instagram’s most popular features is getting another upgrade, and it includes restrictions to keep trolls away. On Tuesday, Instagram introduced “Story Comments, ” enabling users to leave comments on their friends’ stories for others to see.

Instagram Stories allows users to share glimpses of their everyday lives and interests. Similar to Snapchat, in Stories, you can share photos, videos, or posts with all your followers or your Close Friends list, and after 24 hours, it disappears. 

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Initially, you could only interact with a friend’s Instagram story by sending them an emoji reaction or a private direct message. This new feature enables users to start conversations under stories in a public forum style, but it does have some limitations. 

Instagram explains in this video that only people who follow you can see story comments, and only mutuals (people who follow the poster and those who the poster follows back) can leave a comment under a story post. Comments will disappear with the stories after 24 hours. If you prefer to disable the comments feature, you can do that on a story-by-story basis.

As an avid IG user, I am particularly excited about how this new feature will change how I interact with my mutuals and close friends. The addition of comments with privacy restrictions is helpful because I’ve had to post content exclusively on my close friends or privatize my IG account to avoid trolls and unwanted visitors from viewing my stories, much of which is personal or political content. This new feature helps me better engage with all my social media friends while still monitoring who can comment and view my posts.

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These privacy-oriented restrictions aim to tackle trolling or unwanted and toxic comments, a growing problem on Instagram and other social media platforms. Stricter controls on comment visibility may enable more “wholesome” social spaces on the platform while giving people greater control over their online connections and exchanges.