Remember when, a few years ago Facebook wanted to buy Snapchat and Snapchat said no? We all thought that it’s not a good move by Snapchat as Facebook will go ahead and build its own Snapchat and now a few years later here we are Instagram stories. Yes! You heard it right.

As the saying goes “Good artists copy; great artists steal” – the famous words of Picasso, revived by Steve Jobs, ring true today as the world complain that Instagram’s new Stories feature copied Snapchat.

Instagram launches its Instagram Stories, a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear together in a slideshow format: your story.

With Instagram Stories, you don’t have to worry about overposting. Instead, you can share as much as you want throughout the day — with as much creativity as you want. You can bring your story to life in new ways with text and drawing tools. The photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile grid or in the feed.

You’ll see stories from people you follow in a bar at the top of your feed — from your best friends to your favorite popular accounts. When there’s something new to see, their profile photo will have a colorful ring around it.
To view someone’s story, just tap on their profile photo. It’s easy to view stories at your own pace: tap to go back and forward or swipe to jump to another person’s story. If you want to comment on something you see, you can tap and send a private message to that person on Instagram stories Direct. Unlike regular posts, there are no likes or public comments.

Your story follows the privacy settings of your account. If you set your account to private, your story is visible only to your followers. However, you can also easily hide your entire story from anyone you don’t want to see it, even if they follow you. When watching your own story, swipe up to, check out who’s seen each photo and video. You can even choose to feature a particular part of your story by posting it on your profile

How Does Instagram Stories Work?

Firstly Update Your Instagram App

To get this amazing feature started, you are going to need to get your Instagram app updated to the latest version. Head over to the App Store on an iPhone, then check your updates tab for the latest installment. On an Android phone, go to the Play Store and search for the Instagram app. Then hit update. Job Done!

Create Your Original Story

From your Feed, you should be able to see a little plus icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen.  Then click the photo / video button to capture the first part of your story. If you want to grab a photo or video you took at a party last night, just swipe down on the screen and select your top snap.

Be Creative with Your Photos and Videos

Tap the “Aa” button to add text on top of the photo/video or use the pen icon to put your artistic skills to work. When you are finished with being Picasso, click the “Done” button and it will be ready to add to your story. If you want to get rid of the photo, hit cancel; to save it, hit the download icon.

Sadly Instagram yet does not have any filters so you cannot put up a dog face here, but if history teaches us anything, it may not be far away.

Check Out Other People’s Story

To see the stories of people you follow at the top of your feed, just click on their photo to bring up the story. You can also access someone’s story by tapping on their profile photo. If they have an active story, their profile photo will be surrounded by a pretty rainbow ring.

Access to stories works like photo access — if you have your account set to private, you stories will remain private. Users with public accounts are sharing their stories with the world.

Just like Snapchat you Can View Your Viewers

Human validation is key for these features succeed. Just like on Snapchat, if you want to know who has been watching your entire vacation, it is simple to find out. Be warned: It is the quickest way to find out how unpopular your life story actually is. Take a moment.
Simply open up your story and swipe up on the screen. It will provide you with the number of viewers along with the names of people who have been watching your every move. Luckily, no one else can see these stats. You also cannot hide the fact you are looking at someone’s story, so sort out your addiction of stalking.

Show Your Appreciation for a Story

Really enjoyed your friend’s story Send them a message to say something good about their story. Open the story, choose “Send Message” in the bottom left, write your message and hit send. Although the app will save your text message for life, the photo or video you are talking about will vanish from your chat.

Keep Your Stories Saved

Sometimes your photos and video mean a lot more to you than just the stories you don’t want them to vanish in 24 hours. You can either save a photo from a story before or after you publish or upload any part of it to your Instagram feed as a regular photo.

If you want to save your photo before it is published, just hit the download arrow icon. After it is published, open up your story and click the three dots in the bottom right of the screen. Click “Save Photo.” To share it as a photo on your feed, click the dots and “Share as Post.”

If you want to do the opposite and destroy one of your photos from living memory, also click those helpful little dots and hit “Delete.”

You Can Also Hide Your Story

Don’t want to show your story to a particular person? There is a button for that. Go to your profile and in the top right of the screen, tap the cog icon on an iPhone or three dots on an Android.

Hit “Story Settings,” click “Hide My Story From” and select away. Once you have them selected, they won’t receive your stories unless you go back into your settings and unselect them. You can also hide a particular story from an enemy by clicking to the right of their name and selecting “Hide Story From.”

Conclusion

Snapchat’s problem – which might be slightly intentional – is that it’s always been confusing and opaque to use. Adults frequently complain they have no idea how to use the service, while generations of millennials gleefully enjoy it without needing to be taught Instagram stories took that confusing interface and did what it’s always done best: Made it useful to the masses, with a number of improvements that make it far more enjoyable to use.

Did you know you can even use Instagram stories to get more followers? Sounds too good to be true? Well, check out this amazing article to see for yourself!

Instagram stories will be popping out globally over the next few weeks on iOs and Android. It is worth the wait.

Let me know what you think of this blog in the comments section and if you really find it helpful,  feel free to share it with your friends and acquaintances on social media.