Instagram is rolling out new features to allow users to share Stories in a more private manner.
According to a new report from TechCrunch, Instagram is rolling out a “Close Friends” feature for its Stories. This functions a separate friends list than the standard followers list, allowing users to select a smaller group to share to, which can make sharing more personal Stories a lot easier.
“Starting today, you can make a close friends list on Stories and share with just the people you’ve added. Instagram Stories has become the place to express yourself and share everyday moments, but our community has grown and sometimes what you want to share isn’t for everyone,” reads the press release. “With Close Friends, you have the flexibility to share more personal moments with a smaller group that you choose.”
First, users need to click on their profile, go to the side menu, and then create a close friends list — there’s no limit to how many followers one can add to that list. Then, when a user creates a Story on Instagram, they will have the option of sharing the Story with all of their friends or with only those on their close friends list.
Instagram‘s story sharing options were previously limited in privacy settings, with the options largely limited to setting the entire account as public or private. The feature does, however, join the existing option to list people who shouldn’t see your story. The tool could also help Instagrammers using a public profile to choose to share among just real life friends and not followers.
Your list can only be seen by yourself. When someone has added you to their list, you will see a green badge when you viewing their stories and a green ring around their profile photo in the Stories tray.
The new feature gives you very fine-tuned control over who sees your Stories, even more so than parent company Facebook, it appears. However, it seems to apply only to Stories, not regular posts, for now.
Close Friends is now rolling out globally on the latest versions of Instagram for both iOS and Android.
In related news, Facebook is expanding Watch Party — its co-viewing feature that lets users watch videos together in real time — to all pages and profiles.
