Sharing to Instagram Stories no longer means blasting that short video or photo to every follower. On Friday, November 30, an Instagram update brought the option to create a “close friends” list for those stories that you don’t want widely shared.
Instagram says the new feature is designed to help users share stories that are more personal with a smaller group of friends. To create the list, users can navigate to their profile and access the new Close Friends List option from the menu. From there, users can see who to add to the list and can also edit that list. A separate tab contains suggested friends to add to the list.
While Instagram says that users can’t request to be on your list, the friends you add to that list will be able to see that they are part of your close friends list. Friends that are listed will see a green outline around your profile picture in the story carousel, and while viewing the story, will see a green badge that tells viewers not everyone is seeing that post.
Instagram’s story sharing options were previously limited in privacy settings, with the options largely limited to setting the entire account as public or private. The feature does, however, join the existing option to list people who shouldn’t see your story. The tool could also help Instagrammers using a public profile to choose to share among just real life friends and not followers.
“Instagram Stories has become the place to express yourself and share everyday moments, but our community has grown and sometimes what you want to share isn’t for everyone,” Instagram wrote in a blog post on Friday. “With Close Friends, you have the flexibility to share more personal moments with a smaller group that you choose.”
Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, already has friends lists, though those lists aren’t used for stories. Facebook’s privacy options for stories include sharing publicly, sharing to friends, and hand-selecting a list of friends to share with.
Instagram says the feature begins rolling out today with the latest Instagram app update, available for both iOS and Android users.
