If you asked a random person what social media applications they used, there is a big chance that they will name Instagram as one of them. Over the last almost eight years since Instagram has been launched, it has only become more and more popular. There is a big chance that half the people you meet already have Instagram on their phone and check it religiously. This is another amazing thing about Instagram; people actually use it regularly. It is not one of those applications which people have on their phones but seldom use.
So how has Instagram made sure they remain relevant throughout this time and not only keep the attention of their current user base but also capture more users for their platform? It has been through research, sheer hard work and much more.
Instagram is a big company and they ensure that they are constantly innovating and releasing new features and what not so their users can stay interested in their application. If you were to compare Instagram as it had launched in 2010 to the Instagram we know and love today, they seem like two totally different applications. However, the changes took place gradually and nothing changed overnight. Every change that Instagram introduced was calculated and meant to wow their users and woo new ones to use the platform. And in the long run, Instagram has been very successful in this strategy.
The features Instagram added to their application were always at first questioned by users and even rejected but slowly each one of the updates and features Instagram introduced were not just accepted by people but even celebrated! This is a huge feat for any application and its designers to pull off.
One of the latest and initially most controversial features Instagram introduced was the Instagram stories feature. It was controversial because people accused Instagram of having copied the concept of Snapchat since the feature was a lot like what Instagram was; you could post images and videos which would automatically expire and be taken off in 24 hours.
However even after the initial criticism of Instagram for copying a feature from Snapchat, people were very enthusiastic about using the feature nonetheless. The feature was so popular that out of all Instagram users, about 150 million users frequently use the feature and post stories.
Instagram stories are a fun way of expressing yourself. The image or video you post does not stay up forever and you can post whatever you feel like using your artistic license. Unlike your normal posts of images and videos on Instagram, you can see who viewed Instagram stories you posted.
This is why Instagram stories are so popular now because we are able to see who viewed Instagram stories we post and thus can keep track of active followers. Instagram stories are a great feature and are now well loved by users of the application.
Features of Instagram Stories
There are a few things you need to know about Instagram stories before you set on posting them or even viewing them. Instagram stories are posted on your profile and appear on people’s Instagram feeds at the top. When an Instagram story is clicked on it can be viewed. The story can be escaped if the person swipe from bottom to top to escape the story.
You can skip forward or go back on images or videos posted in the same story by someone. If you want to skip ahead, tap on the right side of the screen, if you want to go back tap on the left side of the screen. If you want to skip to the story posted by the next person, swipe right on the screen and you can skip a story entirely.
You should know that when you view someone’s Instagram story, they will know you have done so even if you do not follow them. If a person’s account is protected and you do not follow them you cannot view their Instagram story.
If you do not want specific people to view your Instagram story then you can go to their profile and click on the three dots on the right side of your screen, there will be an option which asks if you want to hide your Instagram story from them and you can choose this option and they will not be able to see your Instagram story anymore. You can verify this by choosing to see who viewed Instagram stories and making sure their name is not in the list.
One of the downsides or the upsides of Instagram stories; however you want to look at it is that if you screenshot a story, the user is not notified that someone took a screenshot. Thus if you take a screenshot of someone else’s story, there is no way that they will know you have done so.
You can easily delete anything you post on your Instagram story before the 24 hour elapse. And if you want to make sure that the story is never lost and can be viewed for all of time to come, you can add it as a highlight to your profile for as long as you want it to stay there.
Other than that, now there are filters you can add to your Instagram story. The face filters work on a similar concept to the ones on Snapchat. There is a lot of option however for you to choose from. Other than that, you can even add filters to the image or video you want to post in your Instagram story.
Here is How You Can See Who Viewed Instagram Stories You Posted
When you post a story on Instagram, you can immediately check who has viewed it. Once the image or video has been posted, you can click on your story and swipe up on the screen. Once you do this you will see the symbol of an eye and a number next to it. This signifies the number of people who have seen your story. When you scroll down, there will be an entire list of users and these are the specific people who have seen your story. This is how you can easily see who viewed Instagram stories you have posted.
If you have posted several images and videos in one Instagram story and want to see who viewed Instagram stories in its entirety, then once you are on the first image or video in your story and have swiped up to reveal the people who have viewed your story, all you need to do now is swipe right and the screen will display how many people have seen the next image or video in the story. Other than that, you can skip to each image or video in the story separately and then swipe up on them all individually to know which image or video has been seen how many times and by whom.
Benefits of Being Able to See Who Viewed Instagram Stories
There are a lot of reasons you might actually benefit from knowing if someone has viewed your Instagram story or not. A lot of times people post images and videos in their Instagram stories because they want specific people to see them and if you can see who viewed Instagram stories you posted, you can know whether that particular person actually saw your story or not. It might sound a little petty but a lot of people actually post entire stories for specific people and this is how you figure out if they have seen the story or not!
Other than that if you are a blogger and are making a living off of your image as a social media influencer on different social media platforms including Instagram, then you need to know what your post reach is. A great way to know how successful you are is by being able to see who viewed Instagram stories you post and how many people in total there were. You can use the number of views you get to convince businesses and companies to collaborate with you since if you have a big reach they will be more likely to do so.
If you are running an Instagram account for a business then it is very important that you be able to see who viewed Instagram stories you posted. This can give you a nice gauge of how well your business is doing since the more people that see your story and engage with it; the better it is for your business. Hence you should always be able to see who viewed Instagram stories as it can help you figure a lot of things out and give you a better idea of how your social media is doing.
Instagram is a very important part of the social media experience thus you need to know how well you are doing on it. One of the ways to know this is by being able to see who viewed Instagram stories you posted.
Cybil 
Michelle