Instagram starts testing new feature for Stories; users can target multiple lists

Instagram has begun testing a new feature for its Stories and users may soon get an option to share them with multiple audience lists instead of just Close Friends.

Instagram Stories is getting an exciting new feature. Users will soon be able to share stories in smaller customizable audience lists. (Instagram)

Instagram is getting another new feature. The platform is testing a feature for Stories which are the vertical, full-screen photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. With this new feature, users will be able to share posts with customizable smaller audience lists outside of Close Friends. This new feature is currently in testing mode, meaning it has not been rolled out anywhere, but the announcement means that deployment should not take too long.

The announcement came from Instagram head Adam Mosseri who said in his Instagram Broadcast, “Today, we started testing the ability to share your stories to multiple audience lists. This allows you to share stories to smaller groups and gives you more control over who can see your stories. As someone who uses Close Friends often, I'm pretty excited about being able to create additional lists for the people in my life”.

Instagram Stories to get a new feature

For the longest time, Instagram users have requested a feature to be able to share stories with smaller friend circles and interest groups. While Instagram has added options for users to block a particular post from certain friends or to share it in the Close Friends circle, so far there was no way for users to set up different lists for different posts.

This can often be frustrating if you have multiple friend circles from different parts of your life on Instagram and you do not want to share posts meant for one group with another. For example, if you have a group of friends with whom you share your cooking hobby and want to share posts meant for them, there is no way to do it unless you add them in Close Friends and remove everyone else.

However, with this feature, this will no longer be the issue as Instagram will soon allow users to add as many lists as they want and they can quickly pick one while sharing stories. Right now, there is no set date for when the feature will be rolled out, but it is expected to arrive by the next month.