Instagram’s Stories feature is conducting a limited test that hides excessive stories shared by others behind a new “Show All” button.
- A new Instagram test would limit viewing stories shared by other people to three per account, with the rest hidden behind a new “Show All” button.
- The current 100-stories stays for those included in the test, but they’ll need to manually hit a button to view more than three stories from someone.
- The test is being conducted to determine whether users want to view excessive stories from friends with too much time on their hands.
Instagram is testing a “Show All” button for stories
We wholeheartedly hope you’re not one of those people who post way too many stories on Instagram on any given day. It’s a very annoying habit and a rude way to not show your appreciation for other people’s time. Instagram allows you to post up to a hundred stories within 24 hours, and some people are taking the limit literally. So instead of tapping through excessive stories like an animal, Instagram is now testing hiding excessive stories shared by others to three per account.
People included in the test can still post up to 100 stories in the past 24 hours like before, but cannot view more than three stories from a person unless they hit a new “Show All” button. The feature also prevents Instagram from automatically advancing to the next story from the same account after you’ve viewed someone’s first three stories. Instead, the app will simply jump to the next person’s stories. Read: How to share longer videos to Instagram Stories
Unfortunately, the test doesn’t seem to include a way for the user to choose an exact threshold, like five or six stories per account. Instagram did not comment on the test at post time. The test could be limited to Brazil, as evidenced by a Brazilian Instagram user who reported about it on Twitter.
Olha só como está. Pra ver todos tem de clicar no “Mostrar tudo” pic.twitter.com/cHrHL6enUD
— Phil Ricelle (@philricelle) May 17, 2022
Instagram creators won’t like this
If you’re a fitness coach, a makeup model or simply a person whose business depends on Instagram, you’re not going to like this new feature. You’ll be constantly fearing whether people will actually the button or not. Which three stories should be posted first? Are stories after the third one going to have a lower number of views? Worse, if the viewer doesn’t deliberately hit a “Show All” button (demonstrating intent), they might be taken to your rival’s stories. But if you’re just a regular Instagram user, then this feature will save you from those times when a friend shares 76 stories from last night.
When’s this feature coming to all users?
Those fears are contingent upon Instagram launching this test for everyone, which is not a given at this point. Like with other software tests, the Meta-owned company could decide to ditch this test depending on user feedback. But if you’re not a creator or are a user who posts lightly on Instagram, you’ll be pleased that the app will now save you from excessive stories from boring people.