Instagram Stories has become one of the most popular features of the app since its introduction in 2016 and we have to thank Snapchat for pioneering this form of sharing.
Today, Instagram has released a new feature that is geared for you to share Stories to a specific audience. The feature is called ‘close friends‘ and it will let you post Stories that can only be viewed to a select group of your followers on Instagram.
When you upload your Story content, there is a green tab dubbed ‘close friends’ on the top right that allows you to choose the people you’d want to see the Story. For the viewers, you will know you’ve been added to this exclusive Story by noticing the green circular badge instead of the usual pink one that Instagram uses for regular Stories.
There is also a new ‘Close Friends List’ option under settings where you can add or remove people to receive these exclusive Stories. You also get suggestions under the same setting, which is interesting. Your friends won’t be alerted when you stop posting these exclusive Stories.
This new feature has some repercussions. In the US specifically, there is this trend of creating finstas which are separate private Instagram accounts people create to post things they wouldn’t want to on their regular one or for inviting specific people to a party. This feature will give this subsect of Instagram users a way to do that without necessarily creating a finsta. It can also be used by brands to share exclusive content to some subscribers for a fee.
This feature is rolling out as an update to your Instagram app so you’ll have to wait for an update to show up.
