Instagram is testing a new feature called “Friend List Stickers,” which lets users publish stories that are only visible to specific groups of friends.
This was spotted by Jane Manchun Wong, a computer science student with a history of discovering new features before they’re released to everyone.
Instagram is testing "Friend List Stickers". This is a game changer as it enables customizing audiences per Story! pic.twitter.com/mrjPGr6xs1
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) June 20, 2018
When using a friend list sticker, Instagram presents the following message:
“When you place one of these stickers on your story, only the people on that list can see it.”
That message is then followed by a button to create a list, which presumably allows users to select people from the accounts they follow.
I would also presume that multiple lists can be created and, once they are created, users will be able to select from pre-made lists rather than creating a new one every time.
This feature may prove to be particularly useful to those with public accounts who would prefer to have stories seen by a close group of friends.
Instagram currently offers the ability to hide stories from specific users, however, that might be less convenient for people with a lot of followers.
Friend list stickers will give users an added layer of privacy, putting it more in line with Facebook which allows users to adjust privacy settings for every post.
While this feature has only been spotted in testing for now, many of the features uncovered by Wong in the past have eventually been rolled out to all users. So there’s a good chance we will see this in an upcoming app update.
