At the moment, Instagram’s Stories are viewed by swiping to the left. You can move from one Story to another by swiping to the left or tapping on the left or right of the screen to move in between multiple posts. However, according to Matt Navarra, it looks like the company is testing out something different, but not exactly new.
The tweet shows that Instagram is testing out a slight redesign to its Stories where it will now allow users to move between Stories vertically. If this sounds and looks familiar, it is because this is the method that TikTok and YouTube Shorts are using. It is admittedly a bit more intuitive because scrolling down would be akin to scrolling through a website, versus swiping to the left or right.
🚨 Instagram is testing a vertical swipe stories feed in Turkey
h/t @yousufortaccom pic.twitter.com/KdJa9CTnTl
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) January 12, 2022
It is possible that by adopting gestures that are already familiar, Instagram could be hoping to court more users onto its platform where the move from TikTok or YouTube Shorts won’t be as jarring, and thus could encourage more creators to use its platform.
As Navarra points out, Instagram did previously state that they had a prototype of this version of Stories way back in February 2021, but it was not available to the public then. It looks like this version is, but as it is still a test, not all users will be able to see it or take part in it until it is released for everyone.
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