Instagram has announced a new feature called Story Comments on its official Threads account. It means exactly what it sounds like. You can now leave comments on your friends’ Stories. What’s interesting is that the comments are not private, so everybody else can read them, too. Here’s how to leave comments on Instagram Stories.
Pro Tip: Do you know how to hide Stories on Instagram from someone?
Leave Comments on Instagram Stories
The feature is still rolling out and may not be available to all of you at the time of writing this article. But it should soon reach your phone via an OTA app update. So keep checking App Store or Play Store for Instagram updates.
Here are the steps:
- Simply open your friend’s story on the Instagram app.
- You will see a comment box appear at the bottom. Tap on that comment box to begin writing a comment.
- When done, tap on Enter on your keyboard to post it.
Note that to post comments, both the Story poster and the one who wants to leave comments on the Story must follow each other. This will help prevent strangers and stalkers from harassing you.
However, to ensure privacy and reduce online harassment and cyberbullying, Instagram has some built-in safety features:
- Only your followers can read comments left by others on your profile.
- You control who can leave comments on your Instagram Stories.
- You also control who can read comments left on your Instagram Stories.
- Alternatively, you can completely turn off comments too.
It is still unclear whether the followers will be able to comment on stories posted by a public profile without being followed by them. For example, most brands do not follow anyone so can you comment on their Stories? We will test it when the feature rolls out to us.
You could always comment on Instagram Stories but privately, much like on WhatsApp. You leave a comment and that is sent as a DM to the person. Private and secure. Things will work differently moving forward. Now, when you leave a comment, instead of being sent as a DM, the comment will be visible right under the Story depending on your privacy settings.
So what happens when the Story expires after 24 hours are up? No one really knows at the moment. My best guess is that just like the Story itself, the comments below the story would disappear forever, never to be seen again. It would be cool if there is a way to archive or save both the story and the story comments somehow.
