Popular photo-sharing platform Instagram on Friday announced its users can now make a “close friends” list on its “Stories” to share it with the people they’ve selectively added. It is a global roll-out and to add people to their list, users need to go to their profile and tap on “Close Friends” in the side menu. “Only you can see your close friends list and no one can request to be added, so you can feel comfortable adjusting it at any time. When you share to Stories, you’ll see the option to share with just the people on your ‘Close Friends’ list,” the Facebook-owned company wrote in a blog post, according to IANS.
If someone has added you to their list, you will see a green badge when you’re viewing their stories. You’ll also see a green ring around their profile photo in the Stories tray, the company added.
Instagram’s Stories lets users post images and videos that vanish after 24 hours. Like Snapchat, the photos and videos shared in an Instagram Story can’t be viewed once 24 hours have elapsed.
For the unaware, Instagram rolled out the Stories feature last year and was heavily criticised as it looked like an exact rip off of Snapchat’s Snap feature. However, with growing popularity, Instagram Stories has been used way more than Snapchat’s feature and the company tweaked it to perfection to offer the best user experience.
This Stories feature which Facebook,WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube are using is actually copied from Snapchat only. No innovation, nothing. I wonder why doesn’t Snapchat sues them or ask for royalty. If I had to use Stories feature I would use it on Snapchat, why would I use it in other apps. Some Originality should be maintained. #CopyCats