Instagram has added more engagement features, this time providing an easy way for users to engage with Stories content by offeringStories likes. This enables you to ‘like’ any Story in your feed and let the creator know, without having to start up a DM conversation.
How Instagram Private Story Likes work
As head of Instagram Adam Mosseri explained on his account, these likes are private, and will not display in visible like counts. Instead they appear as hearts in your own Stories view, as shown below. Creators will be able to view their Story likes in their Story insights, with a small heart icon added next to the viewers’ name in the view listing.
As a result, your Stories likes will no longer come through as a DM, and you won't be seeing a sudden influx of messages as people react to your Stories. This adds a simple, low-touch way for users to indicate interest in a story – or acknowledge a reaction to their own story – without having to send a new message.This feature could be useful for increasing Stories engagement, while it might also add another signal for Instagram to use in ranking the Stories in your feed, and highlighting those most likely to be of interest. Although Instagram hasn’t yet indicated if this will become a ranking factor, it's easy to assume that with another means of direct insight, Instagram will look to utilise this data to improve user experience.
❤️ Private Story Likes ❤️Starting to roll out today, you can now send some love by liking people’s stories without sending a DM. Likes on stories are private and do not have counts. Rather, they appear as hearts next to people’s handles in your Stories view sheet. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/l56Rmzgnnw
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 14, 2022
What Private Story Likes mean for Creators
In addition to more accurately displaying content of interest for viewers, the new feature will also provide a simple means of feedback for creators. With the increasing popularity of video and Stories content, it's important to see how people are responding, and reducing the pressure around DM responses for Stories seems like a helpful step.It also moves Stories more in line with TikTok-style short video clips, which rely on user engagement signals for both ranking and engagement. Instagram already has this on Reels, and now, Stories viewers will also be able to interact more easily, which could prove to be a valuable shift. If you want more information on the latest updates for Instagram, consider checking our Instagram Marketing Course.So while it may seem like a fairly minor update, it does indicate yet another move by Instagram to boost user engagement, and continue modelling its new features off the success of TikTok. However, time will tell how Instagram chooses to use the insights it gleans from this update in the future.The new like for Stories button is being rolled out to all users this month.
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