Hypebeast: You Can Now Translate Instagram Stories Into 90+ Languages. “Instagram on Wednesday unveiled a new feature that allows users to effortlessly translate Stories into over 90 languages. The feature, aimed at better connecting global audiences, currently only works for text and not audio.”
Bustle: You Can Now See Your Old Instagram Stories Sorted By Date & Location. “In honor of the apps’s 10 year anniversary, the Instagram Stories archive has been enhanced with a very graphically pleasing new feature that’s here to stay: an interactive Instagram Stories map and calendar. If you want to find your old Instagram stories, you can now see them organized by when they were shared and where they took place. This new feature is private, so it’s just for your own nostalgic enjoyment — meaning, all of your followers are not going to have sudden access to the date and location of all of your Stories.”
Search Engine Journal: LinkedIn Will Soon Get An Instagram-Like Stories Feature. “LinkedIn confirmed that it will soon be following Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat by adding its own stories feature. Pete Davies, head of content products at LinkedIn, informed the community that stories are currently being tested in an effort to spark more conversation on the network.”
Slate: Who Are Those Strangers Watching Your Instagram Stories? . “I’m a small-time Instagrammer, so my most frequent viewers are my mother-in-law, my friends, and school or work acquaintances. Earlier this year, that changed: Strangers were viewing my story. Intrigued, I clicked on each profile to see if we had mutual friends or interests, but mostly we didn’t. It was unclear why an ‘actor/singer/model’ named Jonathan with 5,000 followers would watch videos of my dog, or how a granite countertop company in Marshfield, Massachusetts—a town I’ve never visited—even found my account.”
Social Media Examiner: How to Create an Instagram Stories Content Plan: A Guide for Marketers. Really a guide for anyone who’s interested in consistent outreach and engagement. “Want to do more with Instagram Stories? Looking for a useful guide to help plan your Instagram stories? In this article, you’ll learn how to plan, create, optimize, and schedule Instagram Stories content for your business.”
Social Media Today: Instagram’s Working on a New ‘Stop-Motion’ Tool for Stories. “Are you sick of reading over and over again about how you need to be creating video content, when you don’t have the skills, equipment, nor inspiration to be coming up with effective, engaging video posts? This might help – according to reverse engineering maverick Jane Manchun Wong, Instagram is developing a new ‘Stop-Motion’ camera option for Instagram Stories, which would provide another way to create interesting video updates, without having to record any actual video at all.”
Popsugar: Whoa, You Can Turn Anything in Your Camera Roll Into an Instagram Story Sticker. “If you’re like me, you sometimes look at people’s impressive, beautiful Instagram Stories and think, ‘How on Earth did they do that?!’ It’s hard for me to figure out how they create such cool stories, from the varied text to the videos to the music to the extra photos that appear. But there’s a hack from Twitter user Kat Tepylo Murphy that will allow users like myself to get more creative with our Instagram Stories: you can turn any photo in your camera roll into a sticker.”
CNET: Instagram Stories don’t need pics or video anymore. Here’s how to get started. “Instagram is getting a slew of new features, including a camera tool called Create Mode, enhanced shopping tools and support for starting a fundraiser within the app. Instagram has already started rolling out the new tools. Here’s how to use them.”
Engadget: An Instagram bug briefly showed Stories to strangers. “According to the company, the bug “caused a small number of people’s Instagram Stories trays to show accounts they don’t follow.” The full Stories did not load if the accounts were private. Instagram says it corrected the issue in a matter of hours and believes only a small percentage of accounts were impacted. But as TechCrunch points out, 500 million people use Instagram Stories daily, so even a small hiccup like this, could have a far-reaching impact.”
Mashable: Here’s how to add captions to your Instagram Stories to make them more accessible. “Instagram’s Stories, for example, don’t come with closed captioning, which presents a challenge for the 466 million people in the world who are deaf or hard of hearing. But while Instagram itself has yet to provide in-app Story captioning, third party apps exist that can help you transcribe your videos and add captions at the bottom of the screen.”
Sprout Social: The Ultimate Guide on How to Use Instagram Stories . “Stories are no longer seen as a novelty. At this point, they’re a staple of Instagram itself. But if you don’t quite ‘get’ Stories or how they work, their popularity might leave you scratching your head a bit. Don’t fret. In this guide, we’re going to break down how to use Instagram Stories for your business or brand. From what makes a proper post to best practices to ensure your Stories don’t go unnoticed, we’ve got you covered.”
Gadget Hacks: Video Too Long for Instagram Stories? Here’s How to Split It Up. “One of the latest trends in Instgram is breaking up larger videos into more digestible clips to use in stories. Stories max out at 15 seconds, making it a pain to show anything meaningful in that short time frame. Fortunately, you can virtually extend the duration of your Stories on both your iPhone and Android phone.”
The Verge: Instagram’s new ‘type mode’ lets you add text-only pages to your stories. “Instagram’s newest Stories feature doesn’t feel much like Instagram. The platform’s new ‘type mode,’ which starts rolling out today, lets users add pages to their stories that just involve text. No photos or videos are needed. Users can choose from colorful, customizable backgrounds and different text styles, including a neon font and one that’s reminiscent of a typewriter. Stickers can be added, too. You’ve probably already seen a similar-looking page when you respond to a friend’s direct messages.”
Digital Trends: How to use Instagram Stories: Everything you need to know. “Instagram took on Snapchat last year with the launch of ephemeral Instagram Stories, pictures and videos that disappear 24 hours after being shared. And just like Snapchat Stories, you can write, doodle, and place stickers on your Instagram Stories. There’s a fair chance you’re already familiar with this feature, but if you have yet to dive in beneath the surface, here are all the ins and outs of how to use Instagram stories.” Extensive.
Ubergizmo: Instagram Adding GIF Support To Stories. “If you’re digging the weird and wonderful world of animated GIFs, then you might be interested to learn that Instagram seems to be rolling out support for adding GIFs in its Stories. This is according to a report from The Verge in which some users from certain parts of the world are reporting that they are now able to add GIFs via Giphy to their Stories.”
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