As the popularity of Instagram stories rises, the demand for new features and ways to engage increases. Currently, Instagram stories are up to a staggering 500 million active users and are becoming the primary sharing option for many users. With figures soaring, it’s no surprise that Instagram is looking to add new tools and story functionality to help boost engagement.

The ’Stories about you’ listing is a new feature which will list all of the Stories in which a user has been mentioned or tagged by whoever created the story in a completely separate notification list, away from the general notification section.

So who does this benefit?

In particular, this could be a great asset for well-known influencers and brands with large followings who may be snowed under with notifications. Brands are increasingly utilising stories to get more than just a like or comment, creating polls, quizzes, live take-overs and links to specific landing pages in order to get more from their audience and increase brand awareness, but may be missing out on valuable content. The more engagements increase through this medium, and the more the average user shifts towards stories vs feed, the demand for a more streamlined notification system will increase. This will allow for a clear distinction between engagements on feed and story posts, meaning brands, in particular, won’t miss out on those valuable mentions from the audience.

This latest update, although not the most exciting, is another clear indication as to how sharing on social media platforms is changing, and how important it is to start embracing stories! All of the major platforms have adopted it, and now they’re ramping up its functionality as stats suggest story usage is growing 15x faster than posts in feed! So buckle up, as stories prepare to take over, updates will be coming thick and fast. And of course, we’ll be here to keep you updated!