Instagram now allows users to send 'Private Story Likes'

(Image Courtesy: Reuters)

Instagram has announced a new feature that allows people to show support for their favourite posts, without clogging up that person's inbox.

Before this, you could only send them Direct Messages (DM) or use an emoji reaction. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said in a twitter post that the new feature was meant as a way to declutter and clean up DM's.

Private Story Likes

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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

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 14, 2022

Mosseri said that messaging was a key priority for the Meta-owned social network and they wanted to give people a way to focus on DM's with people that you would care about.

By tapping the new heart icon below posts, users will be able to send the author a like. Unlike emoji reactions or messages, these won't show up in DM's but in the viewer sheet instead.

Also Read: Instagram’s new subscription model: How it will aid Indian creators

People viewing the stories will not see a like count, and the author will be able to see a small heart icon on the viewer sheet by viewing the story again, which will let them see all the users who liked the story.