Instagram introduced Stories at the beginning of the month to the surprise of many and one thought that crossed everybody’s minds was “Why was Instagram copying Snapchat?” It made sense since Snapchat’s Stories model was working since millennials and older people alike love it, the network was growing and the engagement numbers are high.
However, the company has decided to add a feature that we wonder why Snapchat has never decided to add before. According to a report by TechCrunch, Instagram will suggest users for you so as to follow their stories.
How will Instagram do this? Well when you tap the Explore tab, Instagram will populate a list of accounts you could follow so as to see their Stories. This bar has Suggested Stories and will be at the top as shown by the following screenshot.
This system will use algorithms to suggest people to you which follows the company’s move to use algorithms to curate your Instagram feed. Judging from your activity from who you follow or the topics that you like, you will get tailored recommendations of people you should follow.
This is actually a sleek move by Instagram as you might be bored with the Stories your friends churn out on your feed and might want to see what Stories are out there being published by other people. Apparently 100 million people use Explore which is 20% of the daily monthly active user base of Instagram and the move by Instagram to show suggested stories within the tab can be seen as a way to drive interest on the product.
