Ever since Instagram launched stories in 2016, the platform has been accused of copying Snapchat – or at least, honoring them with a fairly spot-on homage.
Instagram recently announced they were taking this tribute trend a step further by creating a permanent home to show off formerly ephemeral content. As of December 2017, Instagram Stories automatically archives your Stories to a private part of your profile when they disappear 24 hours after being posted.
Drawing on this archived content, you are now able to create Stories Highlights, which are named collections of past Stories that show up in a new horizontal bar across the top of your profile. You can make Highlights of specific events or parties, a progression of selfies take during the month of June (or January) or your nails. Really whatever you want, all while pulling from an archive of previously created content.
And rather than being a total copycat, according to TechCrunch, Instagram Stories’ new feature actually one-ups Snapchat Memories, which only lets your repost old clips to your current Story. Rather than forcing ephemerality a la Snapchat, Instagram is making ephemerality optional, presumably to appeal to a wider audience. It’s a similar choice to what YouTube opted to do with its new Stories-like product, Reels, which also don’t expire after 24 hours.
“As more and more people adopt Stories, we realized that the profile has become less and less representative of you and your life,” a representative from Instagram told TechCrunch. “And yet the profile is one of the top destinations on Instagram – it’s a powerful space for self-expression and feeling closer to others. But up until now there was no way to keep your favorite stories or add them to your profile – we wanted to fix that.”
TechCrunch outlined three important value-adds to Instagram’s new archiving feature.
Save your Work
Instagram takes work and time, and Archive and Highlights could make investing time in creating Stories feel less wasteful. It might have seemed silly going through the work of shooting Stories and jazzing them up with captions and stickers when they just would disappear the next day.
This is also a good way to expand connections with the less Instagram-addicted. People who may not have opened the app for a day or two and may have, consequently, previously missed your Stories will get a second bite of the apple.
Preserve your Storage
Now you won’t have to worry about taking up phone’s storage space by downloading your old Stories. Instead, Instagram will save them in the cloud, where you can privately view, publicly share or re-download them later. For people with phones that have limited space, this could be a lifesaver – especially given how much additional work-related media you’re certainly also processing.
Express your Identity, Selectively
Instagram has never before let you share something without that content being visible on the homescreen to all your followers. That meant it could feel like you were spamming friends if you wanted to share niche material that might not resonate with everyone. This would, in turn, possibly deter content creation. Stories Highlights will let you exhibit the different angles of yourself without overdoing it.
As we know, social media is an art. Within that art, Instagram is currently one of the most powerful and most fickle tools available. Take a moment to consider what magic you may be able to work with archived posts — and who else you may reach.
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Erika is a sex positive people watcher (and writer). Email her at erika@ynotcam.com.
I love pitbulls. Here’s a cute pic of sweet dogs that was on Instagram’s Instagram, @Instagram.
[…] late December, Instagram Stories began allowing users to achieve their story content for later use. Now, the social media site known […]