Instagram Stories have come a long way. When Instagram first introduced the feature, many users wondered why it was needed, especially when the home feed pretty much served the same purpose. In a nutshell, Stories were added to Instagram so that you can quickly share special moments and events with your followers without worrying about overposting to your home feed.
When posting a Story, you simply point your camera, shoot a photo or short video, and post it to Instagram within minutes. There’s no need to worry about a caption, hashtags, mentions, or all other things that go into a regular feed post. Of course, Stories are now a bit more involved with a large variety of stickers, effects, and filters, but Stories are often more convenient than a home feed post. Eventually, once everyone realized their convenience, Stories took off.
How do Stories work?
You’re probably wondering what makes an Instagram Story different from a post that shows in your feed. As mentioned above, Stories don’t show in your home feed by default, although they can be shared once posted. However, they are similar to home feed posts in that you can post a photo, multiple photos, or a video up to 60 seconds in length.
How to create an Instagram Story
- Open the Instagram app on your device.
- On your home feed, tap the “plus” icon at the top of the screen or swipe right.
- Tap “Story” at the bottom of the screen if it’s not already selected.
- There are three ways to add content to your Story:
- Tap the white circle at the bottom of the screen to take a photo.
- Tap and hold the white circle at the bottom of the screen to record a video.
- Swipe up anywhere on the screen to open your device’s image gallery and tap to select one. Tap “Gallery” to switch to another folder on your device.
- If you opt to take a live photo or record a video, you can also swipe right on the white circle to cycle through and apply live effects. You can tap the “Switch Camera” icon (with the two arrows) in the bottom right corner to flip to the back camera.
- Once you’ve taken a photo or video or chosen one from your device, you can use the creative tools at the top of the screen for text, stickers, effects, drawing, and muting videos. In addition, you can swipe left and right on the screen to cycle through and apply filters.
- Before posting your Story, you can save it to your phone by tapping the three dots in the screen's top right corner and “Save.”
- Once you’re ready to post, tap “Your Story” or “Close friends” (if you’ve set up this list) at the bottom of the screen.