It probably will not be that surprising for you to know that Instagram Stories is one of the most popular social media tools that people use right now to express themselves more creatively and to just tell, well, stories. But sometimes, there are Stories that you want to post but hesitate to do so because it is not for public consumption but only for a few close people. So you probably just Direct Message it to them. But now, you’ll be able to post Stories that only your “close friends” will be able to see.
You may have noticed a couple of days ago that when you were about to post a story, there was a new icon called “Close Friends” right beside Your Story at the bottom left of your screen. Obviously, tapping Your Story will already post whatever photo or video you added. But tapping on “Close Friends” would limit those who can see your Stories to those that you’ve added to the list.
To build that “Close Friends” list, just go to your profile page and tap the overflow menu. You’ll see the Close Friends section and you are free to add the select people you follow who you are close to in real life (or even online). You are the only one who can see the list and people cannot make a request to be added to your list (unless they send you a Direct Message or something). Instagram will also suggest from your friends list, but it’s most likely those whom you most recently chatted with.
When people add you to their close friends list, you’ll see a green ring around their profile photo instead of the normal orange pinkish circle in the Stories tray. And when you view their story, you’ll see a green badge. So before posting your Story, you can now choose between letting the whole world see it or just sharing it with your close friends. You can also edit your close friends list by long pressing on your profile and the option to edit will be there under the Add to your story button.
This new feature is really rolling out globally to Android users. We can expect Instagram to keep adding more features to Stories as they continue to build it in-app for now and maybe eventually a separate app as rumored. Or the Direct Message may become the separate app. All we know is Instagram is probably poised for expansion.
SOURCE: Instagram
