Instagram has added the ability to comment on Instagram Stories, and many people are now using temporary posts even more than traditional posts.
Previously, replying to an Instagram Story sent a private message that could only be seen by the person who posted the content. The addition of comments adds a more public way to respond to stories. However, the ability to comment is first limited: only people who follow the poster and who reply to the poster can post comments. Instagram explains how most of its features work in this video.
Like Stories, comments are temporary and can last up to 24 hours; Instagram spokesperson Emily Norfolk said users can choose to turn comments on or off on any Story they share. It’s unclear whether comments will be archived after a Story post expires, but we’ve asked Instagram for clarification.
Instagram continues to add new features to interfaces like Reels and Stories, which seems to indicate that the company sees them as key places for users to interact with friends, rather than just casual content for scrolling.
Earlier this summer, the platform added disappearing “annotations” (essentially comments) to grid posts and reels in an effort to draw more attention to how your friends are interacting with the content. These disappearing notes expire after three days, and users can choose who can see their notes – either following each other or a curated list of close friends. Temporary notes are overlaid on top of posts, making friends’ comments stand out more.
Instagram also announced today that some likes on posts will now appear more prominently as floating hearts, similar to how they appear on disappearing notes.
