When Instagram first debuted Instagram Stories, denizens of the internet called foul play. It was nothing but a remake of Snapchat’s Story feature, utilising most of the same editing functions. But it seems that Facebook isn’t done with Instagram Story as a slew of new features has been added to the platform.
Boomerang is another one of Facebook’s Instagram spin-off apps, an app designed to let you share short moments in a reverse-loop GIF-like format. Now with the Instagram Story platform, you can swipe right to create a one second Boomerang clip, without having to install the Boomerang app itself. Which sort of makes you wonder why there is a standalone app.
Mentioning people seems to be Instagram’s way of tipping people off about your new story. That’s right, when you’re writing a wall of text to go along with your Instagram Story, you can drop the “@” symbol followed by someone’s username, notifying them that they’ve been tagged in your story. Furthermore, if you view someone’s story that has a mention in it, you can tap the mention to view that person’s profile.
Lastly, you’ll soon be able to add links to your story, in a similar manner to mentioning someone. Currently, this last feature is being beta tested with select, verified users. The addition of links lets users viewing the story to swipe up or tap said link to open the in-app browser. For instance, if you’re writing an article about a laptop, you can share it to your Instagram Story via a link overlaying a picture of the laptop.
