How to take advantage of the new functionality in Instagram Stories

 

Instagram has announced the launch of a new functionality that will allow its users to share Instagram Stories with their users through Direct, its direct messages section. The process for sharing Stories is similar to the one that any user of this platform can currently follow to send a publication from their feed, either to an individual contact or to a group.

Whenever a user receives a story, they will be able to view it through their direct inbox, just like any other direct message that contains a post. Instagram Stories received through a Direct message will be available to be viewed only for as long as the original story is available, which disappears after 24 hours from its publication.

Stories shared through a direct message will have the same visibility settings as the rest of the shared posts. In this sense, the level of privacy and, consequently, the ability to share Stories, will be determined by the configuration that each user has in their profile, and can be restricted only to the contacts of the user who made the publication of a story, or prevented totally that these are retransmitted.

Share Instagram Stories Direct

This new functionality is already being deployed by Instagram to its users around the world, with version 11.0 of the application for iOS and Android.

Steps to follow to share a story through a direct message

To share a story in a direct message, the following steps must be taken:

1.            Touch on any of the spheres of a story, located at the top of the app's home screen.

2.            Once a story is open, you must click on the icon with an up arrow in the lower right part of it to share it.

3.            Select the people with whom you want to share the story and touch “Send”.

Guidelines for restricting a user from viewing a story

Whenever a user wants to prevent a person from viewing a story, they can do so by modifying its settings, thus preventing the unwanted viewer from seeing the Instagram Stories that this user publishes in the future.

To choose the people from whom you want to hide a story, the following steps must be followed:

1.            Click on the bust-shaped icon to access the profile.

2.            For iOS app users, click on the gear-shaped icon at the top right of the screen. Instead, users of the Android application should click on the three vertically arranged dots, located in the same position as the analog button for users of Apple devices.

3.            Touch on the option “History settings", located under the “Account" section.

4.            Click on the option “Hide my story from”.

5.            Select the people from whom you want to hide a story and then click on the “Done" option.

Users will always have the possibility to show their stories again to a person who has been restricted from viewing them, following the same steps and clicking on those users who have been selected in the option " Hide my story from ", identifiable with a green icon with a check mark.

Companies and businesses will be able to take advantage of this new functionality to communicate with their followers in a more original and above all direct way. It will serve for any action, how to present new products or services, offers or promotions, events or simply wish you a good day. Everything will remain in creativity and in the way it is communicated by the community manager who is in charge of the account. The important thing will be that the user likes and shares said submission.