Instagram tests disabling ability to share post to stories

The new experiment is to see how it changes engagement with the popular feature.

San Francisco: Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram is conducting a test which stops some users from sharing feed posts within their Stories.

The new experiment is to see how it changes engagement with the popular feature.

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The company announced the change in a notification banner sent to users in “select countries” where the test is being conducted, The Verge reported on late Tuesday.

“We hear from our community that they want to see fewer posts in Stories. During this test, you won’t be able to add a feed post to your Story,” the notification reads.

Resharing posts to stories is a fairly common practice, though it does create situations where you’ll see a post in your feed and then immediately see that post duplicated in your friend’s stories, the report said.

Taking away the ability to reshare is responding to a behaviour Facebook and Instagram encouraged in the first place by placing stories so prominently in the app and offering the ability to share them, it added.

For now, disabling reshares remains a test, much like the changes to likes the company considered and the variety of new app layouts it has prototyped.

Twitter is also currently testing the ability to share tweets to Instagram stories as stickers.