What are Instagram Stories?

Let me introduce this new lesson on Instagram Stories like this: in America, young users spend a lot of time on Snapchat. Young people love the fact that they can create posts which disappear after 24 hours.

What they make and put online destroys itself in short order.

Instagram, quite rightly, did not want to be left behind, and has worked to build that possibility into its own platform.

Instagram Stories have become a phenomenon among Instagram addicts.

Read on to discover the world of Instagram stories.

Want to become an Instagram PRO?

INSTAGRAM COURSE 2019

The most complete course you will find

14 modules – 16 videos – 27 pdf

Instagram Stories are simply stories people tell through photos or videos of what they are doing during the day.

Instagram users are very attached to stories, since they keep followers’ interest up.

Publishing stories on Instagram while you are doing something, or when you want to talk about it, creates constant curiosity among your followers and among people who might become followers.

At the end of the day every story published, photo or video, disappears. Knowing that, people are more inclined to watch and follow all of them if they follow a profile.

So remember: whatever you post is gone after 24 hours.

The people watching your Instagram stories can comment on them directly while watching.

Read on to learn more about Instagram Stories.

Free image from Pixabay

How do you make a story on Instagram?

Want to know how to make a story on Instagram? Here it is.

Open Instagram
At the top you will see a horizontal band: first your profile photo and then photos of the profiles you follow, each inside a circle,
Next to your icon at the top you will see a (+); tap that, or swipe left, and you can start.
You can make a story with a photo, a video lasting 15 seconds, or by importing photos or videos from that day.
Take the photo, or hold the button down to shoot a video.
You can also add a series of photos or a series of short videos the same way, and they play one after another.
You can post a photo with a poll: at the top you will find a small icon with a face on it — tap it and you get stickers along with the option to add a location, a hashtag or a poll.
You can add filters to your Instagram story. After taking the photo, or picking one from your gallery, swipe right to see the filters available and choose your favourite.
You can write on the photos and choose the colour you like (top right you will see (Aa), and once you start writing the colours appear).
You can draw on the photos you take by choosing the brush at the top (in the middle, between the icon for polls, Instagram hashtags, location and stickers, and the one for writing text).

There you are — now you can make appealing Instagram stories to engage your followers.

Want your Instagram profile to take off?

Want to grow your Instagram followers?

Want to make money on Instagram?

Want to turn your Instagram around?

We can help.

Instagram stories: who sees them?

Instagram’s algorithm changes often, as every social network updates. So at some point you will have wondered: who sees stories on Instagram?

Stories appear in order of interest, so you see the stories of the profiles Instagram considers most relevant to you (the algorithm certainly recognises the people you follow most and the profiles you view most) and decides to show you the stories of the people closest to you.

In the same way, your followers see your Instagram stories according to the interest they have shown in your profile.

In fact, even someone who is not a follower but looks at your profile repeatedly can still see your Instagram stories on their own feed.

The order in which the names of the profiles posting stories appear is decided by the algorithm, based on the relationship between your profile and the profile of whoever is watching.

Instagram stories: how to stay hidden

A question about Instagram stories: how do you stay hidden?

You may not know it, but there is a way to hide your Instagram stories. If you want to keep them hidden, here is how.

Made a story you don’t want to show to someone in your contacts because it might bother them?

Here is what to do:

on Android: on the right you will see three vertical dots. Tap them and find “story settings”. Once selected, you get hide story from. All that is left is to select the people you want to hide the story from and confirm with the tick at the top.
On an iPhone you will see the sun icon; again, select story settings. You then see “Hide my story”, pick who should not see it and tap Done.

Now that this is solved, let’s move on.

How do you save Instagram Stories?

Let’s talk about how to save Instagram Stories.

To get around that “fleeting story” feeling, ways have been found to save Instagram Stories.

But can you save your own or other people’s? Both.

Free image from Pixabay

How to save your own Instagram Stories

By now every Instagram user uses stories and loves the feature — a pity it only lasts 24 hours.

But wait.

With the latest Instagram update at the end of 2017, two functions were added: highlighting a story, and saving the story you made.

In the story settings inside your profile, Instagram introduced an option: save to archive. In the stories archive you will find the stories you published; it is the equivalent of the post archive.

Inside a story, tapping the three-dot icon also lets you save a photo.

On iPhone you reach this section by opening the app, going to your profile and tapping the clock icon at the top right. A new window opens showing the stories you have published.

How do you save other people’s Instagram Stories?

You can save other people’s stories on Instagram: there are apps that archive them on your Android or iOS phone.

Apps for saving other people’s Instagram stories

Story Saver for Instagram for Android

People like this app a great deal, since it saves and downloads whichever stories they want to their device.

After downloading it from the Google Play Store, or by tapping above, all you have to do is log in with your credentials. You are shown the latest stories published by your contacts (those posted within 24 hours) and you decide which to save: select the story and tap save.

In your photo gallery you will find a folder named StorySaver holding the stories you downloaded.

Ins Story Repost for Instagram for iOS

This app lets you download 5 stories, after which the service becomes paid.

The first steps are the same: download the app, open it and enter your credentials.

Then select the stories you want to download.

To download them, tap the preview and then download (you will recognise it by the downward arrow icon).

Screenshots for saving stories (photos)

Another homespun but effective method is taking a screenshot to save Instagram stories — obviously not video stories, since that wouldn’t work. It would be better to ask the story’s author whether you may save it, if you want to do things properly.

There are also browser extensions that save stories on a computer.

Free image from Pixabay

Conclusion

In this lesson we covered Instagram Stories and went deeper into what they are, who can see them, how to hide Instagram stories and how to save them on a phone and a computer. In the next lessons of our Instagram Academy we will cover plenty of other useful and interesting things.

See you next time.

Want to grow the followers on your Instagram profile? Get in touch — we will work out the best Instagram strategy to do what it takes and reach your goal.

Want to sharpen your Instagram knowledge? Get in touch — we will find the course that fits you.

Want to ask us something or just talk? Get in touch — that is what we are here for.