After adding the ability to add music and video-chat with up to four people, Instagram is apparently adding yet another update to Stories that'll focus on making interactions with friends and followers more engaging.
At present, there are already yes or no polls and emoji sliders on the platform, but the Facebook-owned company is taking it a step further by adding the ability to post more open-ended questions, or those answerable by much more complex responses other than yes or no.
Asking Questions Using Instagram Stories
That's right — instead of giving one-word answers, users can type in responses that are as long as they want them to be. In one example shared by a tipster, the user asked their followers to "Roast me." Underneath the dialog box is a "Type something..." field for input.
Unfortunately, the tipster didn't share much about how the feature actually works. Perhaps, like many other elements in Stories, it'll show up as a sticker in Instagram's camera app, but it's uncertain how the responses will be delivered to authors. It's possible they could be sent as direct messages, or perhaps they'll be bundled together in some fashion. Until Instagram shares more details, everything is basically guesswork.
When Will It Be Released?
The feature, as Android Police notes, doesn't seem to be rolling out for everybody just yet, and the company has not yet formally announced it, either. As such, there's no telling when it could come out, or if it'll be a region-specific feature. Hopefully that's not the case. It's also similarly unclear if this feature is rolling out to both Android and iOS versions, but that's very likely what'll happen.
In any case, adding the ability to ask questions seems like a very clever move on Instagram's part, especially seeing how much Stories has grown in the past few months. Just recently, it was reported that the feature is now being used by 400 million users on a daily basis. That should make Snapchat all the more furious and quite rightfully frustrated at the company, given that Instagram stole the concept of Stories from Snapchat. With the ability to ask questions, Instagram is enriching interactions on the platform, which in turn could lead to more growth.
Thoughts about this new Instagram Story feature? Do you think this should have been added long ago? Is the feature live on your app yet? If so, how's the experience so far? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound them off in the comments section below!
