Instagram may soon allow users to view older stories from people they follow that they have missed in the first 24 hours. A recent report suggested that the Meta-owned social media site is testing a feature allowing users to view Story Highlights from mutual followers for a week after they were posted. This feature will reportedly apply only to stories that the original poster has added to Highlights. Meta is said to be reportedly testing this feature with a small group of people currently.
Instagram Testing New Story Highlights Viewing Feature
According to a TechCrunch report, Instagram has started showing some users unseen Story Highlights from their mutual followers. A Meta spokesperson has confirmed the testing of the new Story viewing feature. It is said to have been first spotted by social media expert Ahmed Ghanem.
With this feature, Instagram users will be able to view unseen Story Highlights from the past week. It appears at the end of the Story tray, which is placed at the top of the feed. You can only reach the older Story Highlights once you have gone through the rest of the stories on your feed. If your feed is flooded with stories from people you follow and you never reach the end of the current Story updates, it may be that you never get to see the older Story Highlights.
Another notable element regarding this feature is that it only includes Story Highlights that the original poster has saved to their profiles as a "Highlight." Users will not be able to see standard older stories that disappear after 24 hours. This is expected to ensure that users miss less of the updates from their social circle amidst growing sponsored posts and other online content.
The feature is currently being tested with a small group of people. It will soon be available to all Instagram users globally.
The Meta-owned social networking site recently quietly rolled out a feature which allows Instagram users to schedule direct messages. Users can schedule text-only messages over DMs and it is available for both iOS and Android users.