So basically Instagram is one of the most popular social media applications for people. If you were to ask anyone on a given day what applications they used most often in their phones in terms of social media applications, chances are they would name Instagram as one of them. And trust us when we say this that this should not come as a surprise to you because of the fact that Instagram has reported a high number of users thus this means that there are bound to be a lot of people in even your immediate social circle who enjoy Instagram. According to official sources Instagram has about 800 million active users a month and this number is supposedly only going to increase. It is estimated that in 2018, Instagram will become even more successful and double their user base and this should not be surprising because of the fact that the people at Instagram have worked so incredibly hard to ensure that their work does not go in vain and that the application gets more and more users.
So what exactly makes Instagram so popular? The reason behind it is simple. The application has been changing and innovating since it hit the market for users. This means that the developers behind Instagram have always come up with new features and additions to the application which will make their application better in terms of user experience. Instagram has been around since its launch in 2010 and ever since the basic premise of the application has remained the same; post pictures and videos however everything else around it has totally changed. You can now do live streams on Instagram, post multiple pictures and videos in one post, send images and videos which disappear on Instagram messages, like comments and of course add Instagram stories.
When Instagram was launched in 2010 the creators behind the application did not truly know what they were in for and how far their application would go. The tech industry is extremely volatile. While some applications which seem to have a lot of scope seem to fail; a lot of applications which no one believed in might just be the top applications of the year. For Instagram they had no idea what to expect and they had every right to expect that the venture would fail since in the tech world companies go belly up all the time. But somehow, Instagram maintained user interest and unlike most countries which struggle in the first year, Instagram strived.
They made new updates all the time and while some changes were initially unwelcome by users, they were all eventually accepted. One of the biggest and most riskiest change that Instagram made was changing their logo. This concept is unheard of since changing your logo can do you a lot of harm since a lot of people may have some association with your logo and if you change it, this might upset them and make them lose their affiliation with your application but Instagram did not lose any users or get too much backlash for it. The worst of it was people ridiculing the elementary design they had adopted for the new logo and understandably after a little while even this joke got old.
Applications such as Instagram are always in search of investors so in 2012 when Facebook made an offer for an acquisition; they could not refuse. This was not just because of money but being under the wing of a company like Facebook would open up a world of resources for Instagram. Since Facebook has been doing this for so long and has such a wide reach that Instagram could learn from them. Plus with the benefit of having a relationship with Facebook, the company would only get more exposure and in the end it would mean that Instagram would have even more users since Facebook’s help would open them up to bigger markets. Such as how Facebook lets Instagram post on Facebook by integrating user accounts; this is just one example of how Instagram benefits from Facebook.
Under the wing of Facebook is when Instagram developed and launched its own version of the Instagram stories. This faced a lot of backlash since users accused Instagram of copying the premise of Snapchat which meant that they were ripping off the idea of another company which people clearly did not appreciate. However, over time the feature has won people over. Instagram stories like illicit a response from people which was negative but over time it turned positive. And this is pretty obvious considering that Instagram stories now have about 150 million daily users.
So what exactly is the role of Instagram stories and what can you do with them? Let us talk about this in detail below and dispel certain myths as well surrounding Instagram stories.
- Instagram Stories Like
A lot of people ask whether or not we can do to Instagram stories what we can do to regular posts on Instagram which is Instagram stories like. The answer is that while we can most definitely like the posts we see on our Instagram timeline we cannot give Instagram stories like even if we want. We can however send a message which can work as comment in this case. When you are viewing someone’s Instagram story on the bottom there is a chat box; you can type in whatever message you have related to their Instagram story and send it to them right there and then. Hopefully since you cannot give the Instagram story like; you are probably only sending them a nice little compliment.
- Pesky Messages
Whenever someone looks at our Instagram story and sends us a compliment via messages as a comment on the story itself; it can be a little annoying. You might find that your Instagram messages are filled with messages from strangers trying to compliment you on your Instagram stories like they are your friends then you might want to reign it in and take measures which will help you curb this behavior. There are a few things you can do to ensure that people you do not want messages on your Instagram stories like for will not be able to see them.
- Limit Who Sees Instagram Stories
If there is someone who particularly annoys you when it comes to your Instagram stories like with weird comments and compliments on each of them there is a simple way you can put an end to their behavior. For this you will need to visit their profile and click on the vertical three dots on the top of the screen once you click these you will see an option which says ‘Hide Instagram Story’; choose this option and this way you Instagram stories like will not be available for viewing to these people. The person you hide your Instagram story from will have no idea you even posted something. This feature is a great help because of the fact that you do not have to block the person but can easily just hide your Instagram story from them so you can avoid their uncomfortable comments. You will not lose a follower this way. And if the person who sent you these messages was someone you know and even meet in real life then this means you will not have to have an awkward real life encounter with them where they ask you why you blocked them on Instagram. This way you will only have to pretend that you do not post Instagram stories up anymore.
- Make your Account Settings Private
When you are tired of strange people sending your comments on your Instagram story because there is no other option like Instagram stories like which lets them express their sentiment without sending weird messages you might want to consider limiting your audience. By this we mean that you can make your account private so that only people who follow you and you approve of can be the ones who are allowed to watch your Instagram stories like.
To make your account private go to your Instagram profile and access the settings for your profile. Now scroll down and choose the option which asks you whether you want to make your posts private and choose it. This will make your life much easier and limit your interaction with strangers to a minimum.
Whatever you choose for your Instagram profile will be the correct option for you. There are a lot of people on Instagram who will use the application to make advances on you which will end up making you feel uncomfortable but then again you need to ensure that you do not let this restrict what you post on Instagram. Instead look at one of the options we provided above if you want to just make sure you have a good experience on Instagram and do not have it marred by weird people who think it is okay to make weird comments about you or to you.
Cybil 
Meghan 
Clarice