Instagram isn’t done tweaking its Stories feature. Last year, they had begun showing a double Stories on the home tab and in a paginated row instead of a single line – it would lead to more people tapping through them.
Thankfully, Instagram didn’t go ahead with this new format.
But this doesn’t mean they won’t stop playing around with Stories.
Instagram is now bringing timers to Stories. You’ll now see a timer right below the Story bubble instead of the users name to let you know how long each Story will be on Instagram before it expires – Stories have a 24 hour limit.
Instagram is really crazy on finding engagement on its Stories format and is hoping people’s FOMO will make them click on Stories before they expire.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out depending on your view on Stories. Like the posts on your feed, the Stories with this format aren’t even in chronological order.
Instagram is betting on FOMO(Fear of missing out) and hopes these timers will prompt more people to click on the Stories before they disappear.
The ephemeral format that is Stories has gone from Snapchat to LinkedIn to Spotify and now Twitter with its Fleets feature.
Instagram is adding the pressure with the timer prompts and this feature will backfire as it now feels like having a pointed gun at you.
