Instagram has rather silently started implementing changes to their signature Stories feature. A limited number of users have already encountered the new Stories layout, which reduces the visibility of excessive posts.
At this point, Instagram has become a cultural phenomenon. The social media platform has revolutionized the way people interact and has pushed forward a new philosophy on how we stay connected.
Over the years, one of the most definitive aspects of Instagram has been Instagram Stories. The feature is rather straightforward – it allows users to share posts, which can only be seen for 24 hours and afterwards they disappear.
Usually, content that does not warrant a dedicated post on the Feed is usually shared via a Story. At present, users can share up to 100 Stories at the same time. While this number is likely to remain the same, Instagram is now limiting the number of Stories that will receive direct visibility through the dedicated Stories Bar.
Normally, users can simply tap away and view all Stories shared by the accounts they follow until moving on to the next user automatically. With this newest change, users will only see a maximum of 3 Stories before carrying on to the next account they follow.
Users will still have the option to see all Stories of a particular account, but that will require tapping on a dedicated “Show All” button which will then display posts beyond the first three.
The implications of this are rather obvious. This will allow users to quickly skim the Instagram Stories of the accounts they follow, without having to spend an excessive amount of time on a single spammy account.
A problem arises when one considers how creators use Instagram. As a group, they rely on (sometimes many) Stories in order to promote their content and gain revenue. For the time being, there is no clear timetable of when the Story layout update will be rolled out. It is still theoretically possible for some tweaks to be implemented.
If the change does get a mass release, it is bound to have an impact on how everyone perceives Instagram Stories. Users will have to think carefully about how they will get the most of their three posts.