Instagram is testing out a new feature that will help users keep their inboxes uncluttered. The feature lets users send private likes in reply to a story, instead of having to send a message or an emoji to display their affection.
❤️ Private Story Likes ❤️
Starting to roll out today, you can now send some love by liking people’s stories without sending a DM.
Likes on stories are private and do not have counts. Rather, they appear as hearts next to people’s handles in your Stories view sheet. ???????? pic.twitter.com/l56Rmzgnnw
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 14, 2022
The messaging functionality, which was first shared by the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, is now rolling out for all Instagram users.
According to Mosseri, “the idea here is to make sure that people can express more support for each other, but also to clean up DMs a little bit.” As part of the update, a new heart icon will now appear between the pill-shaped send message bar and the airplane icon, when you’re viewing a story.
Before this update, if you had to show appreciation or affection to someone’s story, you’d have to send them a message, and it would pop up in their DMs, but now, all you need to do is press the new heart icon on their story and they will be able to see it in their ‘viewer sheet.’
While not a monumental feature, the new update is sure to help you organize your DMs better, and if you’re on the other side of the equation, make it easier to show love.
Source: @mosseri
