Instagram
Stories have
become a staple on the social media app since the feature's launch in 2016.
Instead of posting carefully curated photos that will stay on your feed
indefinitely (unless you delete them), Stories lets you post several images
that play like a slideshow and disappear at the end of the day.
You
can upload photos, videos, text or posts from other accounts to your Story.
Since Stories don't show up on your main grid of photos, they're perfect for an
image or message you want to share with your followers without having to commit
to making a full, captioned post.
Stories function as an alternative way
to see the most current activity from the people you follow (though you can now bring back chronological
feeds). Stories are placed in a horizontal line directly above your
feed: If someone you follow has posted a Story in the past 24 hours, their
profile image will appear with a colored circle around it. Tap the image, and
you'll see that account's Story. Keep tapping, and you'll see all of the day's
Stories posted by accounts you follow.
Navigating through Stories is simple.
While browsing the Stories of your friends, swipe right to go to the previous
one, left to go to the next one and tap to skip the current photo or video. If
you want to linger on one photo, you can pause a story by tapping and pressing
the screen. To start the story again, just lift your finger. This also works
for video. You can swipe up on a Story to react to it, or you can simply press
the heart on the bottom right corner to Like it.
Here's everything you need to know
about Instagram Stories.
Making
an Insta Story is a lot like Snapchat
Stories are temporary videos, photos or text that are strung together to form a slideshow gallery that, well, tells a story.
There are a few ways you can start an
Instagram Story: You can swipe right or hit the blue plus sign on your profile
picture, or go to the top right side of the screen and hit the plus sign there.
Once you've done one of these, follow the steps below.
1. Tap the circle button at the
bottom of the screen to take photos or tap and hold to record a video. To add
photos or videos from your gallery, swipe up on the screen or tap the photo
icon in the lower-left side of the screen.
2. Edit the photos or videos with text
(the Aa button)
or add a drawing (the button
with three dots).
3. Tap Done to save your Story.
4. Tap the Your Story button to share it to your Story, or the Close Friends button to share with a customized list of accounts.
I used the color picker (a little eyedropper
that shows up next to the color options) to make the text and star match other
colors found in the photo.
If you click the Arrow icon, you can
shoot your image or video to one of your friends at the same time as it posts
to your Story. Just tick the bubble by Your
Story,
then Message and
the person you want to share with. The image will disappear after your friend
sees it.
Repeat these steps if you want to add
more than one photo or video to your Story. Each photo you add within a 24-hour
period will be placed in your Story.
You can select up to 10 photos at a
time from your gallery or use the multi-capture feature (Go to the camera screen, hit the
downward carrot on the
left).
After you share your new Story, a
colorful circle will appear around your profile photo to let your followers
know you've posted new content. Your profile picture will also pop up at the
top of your followers' Feeds. All they need to do is tap your face to see your
Story.
If you have a habit of adding things
to your social media accounts that you later regret, good news! Stories can be
removed. Tap on the three dots at the bottom right of the photo or video you'd
like to delete and hit Delete.
Boomerangs,
hands-free and live video, oh my!
Aside from regular photography and
videography, Instagram provides several options to mix things up on your Story.
Boomerangs
Boomerangs are fun, short videos that
play forward and backward.
1. To start a Boomerang, swipe right
from your feed. This will take you to the Stories camera.
2. Select Boomerang on the left.
3. Tap record to shoot a short burst
of photos.
Hands-free
No need to press and hold to make a
video anymore. The Hands-Free option in the left menu lets you record a video
without, well, hands.
1. Swipe right from your feed to open
the Stories camera.
2. Hit the downward carrot on the
left.
3. Tap the Hands-Free button.
Live
video
You can make live videos in your
Stories, too. It works a lot like Facebook's live video feature.
1. Swipe right from your feed to open
the Stories camera.
2. Scroll among the options on the
bottom and select the Live
option.
3. Options on the left let you title
your Live video, schedule it and set it to public or private.
When you go live, a Live tag will pop
up on your Instagram Stories bubble to alert followers.
Spice
up your shots with filters, stickers, GIFs and text
One of the best things about Snapchat
is the ability to add fun and flair to your photos. Instagram Stories have a
bevy of customization features, too. After shooting a photo or video, swipe
across it to add a filter. You can choose from options like Lagos, Los Angeles
and Abu Dhabi.
If you see someone else using a filter
on their Story and you want to give it a try, tap the name of the filter (below
their username). A menu will pop up allowing you to try it instantly or save it
for later.
Stories also let you add augmented
reality filters to your pictures, just like Snapchat. Here's how to try them
out.
1. Go to the Stories camera.
2. On the bottom, scroll across the
different filter options. (Scroll to the end and tap the magnifying glass to
browse even more effects.)
3. Tap the filters to try them on.
4. When you find a filter you like, snap a photo or take a video. These filters also work on Instagram Live.
Once you've picked your filter, add
some stickers. You'll find a stickers
button with a smiley face on it in the top right corner next to
the text tool. Tap the button, and you'll be able to jazz up your Story with
customizable stickers. Some options include the weather, the day of the week,
holidays, quizzes and polls. Once you add a sticker, you can add another, move
it around and resize it.
You can also make your own stickers
from images in your gallery. Here's how:
1. Take a photo or video, then tap the
stickers button.
2. Scroll until you find a circular icon
showing your most recent camera roll photo.
3. Tap that icon, and select one of your
images to use as a custom sticker.
4. Once the custom sticker is on your
story, tap the sticker
and it will transform into shapes like hearts and stars.
Hashtag stickers are another
customization option. Just tap on the sticker that says Hashtag and customize
it with your own hashtag. Other people will be able to tap on the sticker and
find other photos with the same hashtag. You can also add a hashtag to regular
text on your Story and it will be clickable, too.
If you want a sticker for something
specific -- like, say, cats -- search "cat" and you'll be presented
with both emoji options and gifs. To add a GIF sticker to your post, go to the
sticker option and tap on the GIF
icon. A library of the moving photos will open, provided by
Giphy. When you find one that you like, just add it like you would any other
sticker. Searching the word "Effects" will get you sparkles, hearts
and other fun additions for your subject's environment.
Once you have your stickers added, go
crazy with some snappy text. To add text simply tap on the text icon in the upper
right side of the screen and tap on your color of choice. If the colors just
aren't right, don't despair. Swipe left on the color palette to reveal more
options, or tap the eyedropper
icon to pick a color from the image.
Don't want to share a photo at all and
just need a blank canvas for text? Go to the Story camera and hit the Aa button on the left.
Tap the colorful button on
the bottom right to change the color of the canvas.
Swipe through the icons on the bottom to see options for gifs, countdown widgets, quizzes, question prompts your followers can answer, and more.
Tag
your friends and followers
When adding text to a Story, all you
have to do is include the @ symbol followed by the username to tag someone. The
tag is a live link to the person's profile and you can tag up to 10 people.
Share
Stories with Direct messaging
You can share other people's Stories
by tapping the Direct
icon (it looks like a flying paper airplane) on the bottom
right of the Stories' screen, choose the friend you want to share with, write a
message and tap Send.
When you get a Story sent to you, it
will come to your Direct inbox. Be quick, though. When the story disappears
after 24 hours, you won't be able to look at it.
If you don't want people to share your
Stories, just turn off the sharing ability. Go to your Story camera > Settings icon > Story and toggle Allow Sharing to Messages
off.
Flipping
through Stories is pretty easy
Navigating through Stories is super
simple. While browsing the Stories of your friends, swipe right to go to the
previous one, left to go to the next one and tap to skip a photo or video.
If you want to linger on one photo,
you can pause a story by tapping and holding your finger on the photo. To start
the story again, just lift your finger. This also works for video.
Banish
annoying people
If you cringe every time you see a
certain someone's Story in the lineup, you can mute it. Simply tap and hold on
that person's Story icon
when it appears in your Story lineup. A window will pop up that will give you
the option to mute this person's stories.
Muting doesn't hide the Story totally.
It just moves it to the last of the lineup and it won't automatically open
while you're playing Stories. You'll need to manually unmute people to get
their stories back in the normal mix. Just tap and hold on that person's Story icon and tap the
unmute option.
You can also choose who gets to see
your Stories and who doesn't. Want to prevent your parents from seeing that
epic Friday night out, for example?
1. Go to your Story camera.
2. Tap the Settings icon.
3. Choose Story.
4. Tap Hide My Story From. Select your parents
(or whoever else you want) from the list and tap done. They will still
be able to see your posts and profile, but they won't see your Story.
You can prevent certain people from
sending you messages from your Story, too. In your Story settings, select
an option from the Allow
message replies list. You can choose your followers; Followers you follow
back or just off
to prevent anyone from commenting.
Curious to see who's looking at your
story? Open your story and swipe up on the screen. At the bottom of the screen
will be a view counter and the names of the people who viewed it, plus a heart
next to the people who Liked it. Only you can see this information.
Your
Stories don't have to disappear forever
If you've become attached to your
Story and don't want it to lose it forever, you can download it to your phone.
Open your Story and tap the More
icon bottom right of the photo or video. Then tap Save.
You can easily save your Stories to
your camera roll, automatically, too. Go to your Story camera; find
your Story settings
and slide the Save story
to Camera Roll option on. Every time you create a Story, the
videos and images will be automatically saved to your camera roll on your
phone.
If you decide you want everyone to see
your photos or videos more permanently, you can add them to your profile grid.
Simply open your Story, tap the three dots at the bottom right of the photo or
video and tap Share as
Post. The photo or video will appear in your profile grid. Just
beware, whoever can see your profile grid will be able to see the photo or
video. It will no longer have special protections that you can add to Stories.
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