Instagram tests out persistent Stories bar

If this test becomes a full-fledged feature, you won’t be able to escape Instagram Stories then. The Verge’s Chris Welch noticed on his Pixel 2 XL a change to Instagram’s user interface. While he was scrolling through his main feed, he noticed the Stories bar stayed at the top of the page. When they reached out to Instagram about this, they got the boilerplate response, “We’re always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you.” If you like checking Stories all the time, this new feature might be up your alley.

Source: The Verge

Instagram will now let public accounts share Instagram Story posts that mention you

A new minor update to both iOS and Android Instagram apps will let you repost Instagram Stories you’ve been tagged in. If you have a public account, you will get a DM from the person that links to that Story post. You then get an option to share that post to your own Instagram Story. When you opt to share, you’ll be redirected to your Story editor page letting you do the usual editing you’d do for any other story you post. The name of the original poster is seen at the top, letting people tap on the account and view their profile.

Source: GSMArena

You can now share Instagram posts to your stories

Similar to how you can share what you’ve been listening to on Spotify to Instagram Story, you can now share your posts and public posts in your timeline, too. When you share a post on Story, it’ll come up like a sticker and will have the original poster’s username and a link to the original post. It’s an easy way to promote brands or friends to your other followers. If you don’t want other people sharing your content, there is an option in settings you can toggle. Simply scroll down and look for the “Allow Others To Reshare” option. If you have a private account, you don’t have to do anything. The feature is rolling out on Android already. iOS users will be getting the feature in the coming weeks.

Source: 9to5Mac

Instagram introduces ‘emoji sliders’ for polling your followers

Instagram thinks binary options for polls aren’t enough, they want you to work with a scale… or an emoji slider, in this case. It’s a new way to get feedback from your loved ones and followers about what they feel about anything you want to poll them on. For example, how much of a snake your ex is on a scale of not a snake to 100 percent snake. The emoji slider was borne out of the popularity of the poll sticker. If you want to try it out, it’s now rolling out to users and you can find it with the rest of the stickers in the sticker tray.

Source: TechCrunch