Instagram recently introduced a new way for users to interact with stories by simply liking them rather than sending a direct message.
Before now, the only way to interact with an Instagram story was to re-share it or reply to it with a comment.
All of these options clogged up users’ DM inboxes with notifications.
With this update, you can now interact with a story by tapping the like button, just as you would with a regular feed post, which does not send the other user a DM notification.
While the button appears to be identical to those found on feed posts, there are some significant differences.
Here is everything you need to know about them.
How Instagram Story Likes Work
A heart-shaped like button now appears on Instagram stories.
Users can express their appreciation for your story by clicking the “like” button. However, unless you manually check, you won’t know how many people liked your story or who liked it.
Meanwhile, you can see who liked your story in the “viewer sheet,” which is where you go to see who looked at it. And because story likes are tracked in the viewer sheet, you’ll have 24 hours to keep track of how many people like a story before the data disappears. The goal of rolling this update out is to reduce notifications so Instagram will not notify you of story likes.
Plus, story likes are not visible to the public, so only you will know how many people liked a story.
Instagram did not explicitly state whether story likes will have an algorithmic impact.
So it’s unclear whether stories that receive a lot of likes will be pushed to the front of the stories carousel.
We also don’t know if liking a story increases its chances of appearing in the Explore tab.
Likes on feed posts, on the other hand, have an algorithmic impact on the main feed and the Explore tab.
See Mosseri’s announcement below for all known details about Instagram story likes:
❤️ Private Story Likes ❤️
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 14, 2022
Starting to roll out today, you can now send some love by liking people’s stories without sending a DM.
Likes on stories are private and do not have counts. Rather, they appear as hearts next to people’s handles in your Stories view sheet. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/l56Rmzgnnw
How to “Like” a Story on Instagram
Follow these steps to “like” a story on Instagram once you have access to the feature:
- Open the most recent version of Instagram.
- At the top of your feed, you’ll see a bar with stories from the people you follow.
- When there’s a new story to see, a colorful ring will appear around their profile picture.
- Tap on a person’s profile picture to see their story.
- Between the “Send Message” field and the plane icon on a story, there should be a heart.
- If you like the story, you can tap the heart.
How to Find Out Who ‘Liked’ Your Stories
If someone clicks “like” on your Instagram Story, it will show up in the viewer sheet, which you can see by looking at your own story again.
- Open the most recent version of Instagram.
- Tap the icon that looks like your story in the top left corner.
- You can see the icon for another user’s profile in the corner.
- This means that your story has been viewed.
- If you tap the icon, you can find out who has seen your story.
- If you don’t see the icon in the lower left corner, it means that no one has seen your story.
- Swipe up from the bottom to double-check. You’ll see the names of viewers listed.
- You’ll see a heart next to their name if they “liked” your story.
How To Unlike Instagram Stories?
Let’s say you liked someone’s story by mistake and need to unlike it, you can unlike the story by opening it and tapping the heart icon.
When you like a story, the heart at the bottom of the page turns red. When you don’t like something, the red heart icon turns white. Here’s how to say “no” to an Instagram story:
- Open your updated Instagram app
- Open the story you’d like to unlike.
- Tap the red heart to change it to a white heart.
Are Stories “likes” public or private?
If you “like” a story, it will only show up in the viewer sheet of the person who got the “like.” No one else knows about it.
If you got a “like,” people who read your stories in public won’t see a “like” count. The likes in your viewer sheet can only be seen by you.
What’s the difference between liking someone’s Instagram Story and sending them a Reaction?
In the past, if you wanted to like someone’s Instagram Story, you had to hold down the screen and choose a “reaction” like a flame, a crying-laughing emoji, or a heart. The user would then get a new direct message telling them that you liked their Story. This feature does let people show support for others, but a lot of reactions can fill up their direct messages, making notifications go up and burying other messages.
Can someone on Instagram see if I like their story?
Yes, people who have Instagram Stories can see if you like them. Story likes, on the other hand, are private, so only the person who posted the IG Story can see how many likes it got. This is different from likes on public Instagram posts like Feed, IGTV, and Reels, which anyone can see.
How can I see which Instagram users liked my story?
You can see who liked your Instagram Story by going to your Instagram Story viewer panel, which is the page where you can usually see a list of who has seen your Story. The people who liked your Instagram Story will be marked with a small heart icon.
Why don’t I have the Likes feature for my Instagram Story?
As of February 14, 2022, the “likes” feature for Instagram Stories had just started to roll out. The process is usually slow, so if you don’t see the Instagram Story likes feature, it may just not be available on your account or in your area yet. But if you still can’t use Instagram Story likes after a few weeks, go to your phone’s app store and make sure your app is updated to the latest version. This is usually the fastest way to fix the problem. If that doesn’t work, you should try closing and reopening the Instagram app or logging out and back in. If nothing else works, you can get help from Instagram’s help center.
Why can’t I find the like button in my Instagram stories?
Your app might not be up-to-date, which is why you can’t find the like button on your Instagram stories. Do any of the following to solve this problem:
- Remove the app and reinstall it.
- Go to the App Store or Google Play Store to update the app.
Where is the like button for Instagram stories?
Between the “Send Message” text bar and the send/paper airplane icon on Instagram stories is a heart icon. This is the “like” button.
Conclusion
Reacting to someone’s Instagram story shows that you care about what they posted and that you agree with it. Make sure your Instagram app is up to date, then open the stories and tap the heart icon at the bottom of each story to like it.
The person who wrote the story will know that you liked it. No one but you and the person who wrote the story will know that you liked it.
We hope you learned how to like Instagram stories from this article.
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