Instagram Allows Private Story Likes Bypassing DM

Looking to enable a more streamlined and effortless interaction of users with other people’s stories and make it easier for story creators to manage their inboxes, Instagram is rolling out a new sleek feature called Private Story Likes. Thanks to the new option, anyone can now express their approval of such Instagram publications by clicking the heart icon located between the Send Message option and the paper aircraft button. In this case, the author will know you liked their content without having to work their way through dozens and hundreds of direct message (DM) notifications.

Previously, this photo and video sharing platform only permitted re-sharing such stories and replying to them with a comment. Any reaction, be it just an emoji or a full-fledged text message, was sent to the story creator’s DM inbox, which sometimes made for a very cluttered directory. With the new Private Story Likes feature, users can show their support of Instagram stories without littering the DM inboxes of other people. Unlike regular feed posts on Instagram, there will be no public counter of ‘likes’ responses. Only the authors themselves can see these statistics in the viewer sheet.

Early 2022, the platform introduced a slew of new features to allow users to remove or archive their Instagram interactions and activities in bulk and filter those by date. Instagram also changed its algorithms, lowering the priority of posts and stories with content that shows signs of bullying or hatred and limiting the visibility of messages with ‘borderline’ content.

Are you annoyed by how littered your DM inbox on Instagram sometimes gets? Do you think the new feature will help improve the overall messaging experience for Instagram users? Feel free to share your ideas with us by leaving a comment below!