Instagram testing ‘Reshare’ sticker for sharing posts to Stories

The new sticker is another one of Instagram's tests to highlight reshared posts on Stories.

Instagram reshare sticker (Pixabay)

Instagram has been testing ways to highlight reshared feed posts to Stories. In some markets Instagram disabled resharing posts to Stories, and it also started displaying a “Reshared” label on Stories. It's still not done with this experiment as a new “Reshare” sticker is now in the works.

Instagram is testing a new Reshare sticker that can be used in Stories. Based on the discovery by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi (via Social Media Today), the sticker can be used on feed posts reshared to Stories. How the sticker will ultimately look isn't known yet but the purpose is clear; Instagram wants to show that it's a reshared post. This looks like another way for Instagram to discourage people from resharing posts. In its test where it disabled the feature, it said, ““We hear from our community that they want to see fewer feed posts in stories. During this test, you won't be able to add a feed post to your story.”

#Instagram keeps working on the "Reshare" sticker by adding a notice to inform users that to add a post to a story you need to use this sticker 👀 pic.twitter.com/MYb4SuQMsf

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) May 7, 2021

Instagram also displayed the “Reshared Post“ label just below the username on Stories but this didn't seem to make any difference. Instagram removing the ability to reshare posts will most likely receive a lot of backlash from users. It may negatively impact some users especially creators and businesses wanting to grow their presence on the app. It may also affect users wanting to support other businesses or accounts by sharing their posts to stories.

Paluzzi spotted another Instagram feature in testing, and that's an option for users to schedule live videos. Instagram Live has also seen an uptick ever since the pandemic spread last year. It has since added support for four people in a live session, and recently started letting users turn off their audio and video.