Instagram is introducing commenting to Stories. Previously, short-lived Stories could only be responded to via direct message. This new feature allows users to interact with their friends’ posts in a more visible way. The original poster will not receive comments via direct message. A Meta representative said, “Comments will only appear on the story.”
Story comments can be turned on or off on a post-by-post basis. When enabled, comments can be seen by anyone who follows your account, but only mutual followers can leave comments. As with story post types, comments disappear after 24 hours. A small profile picture of the commenter will appear at the bottom of their story icon so you know a comment is attached before you tap to view the post.
Users can also reply to stories with DMs if their account is set up to accept DM messages. There is also the option to send a DM by replying to a story comment, which can be done by swiping left on the text and tapping on the DM icon.
Instagram has been giving users more ways to jazz up their stories: posts can be created using customizable templates, get AI-generated backgrounds, and use a growing number of interactive stickers.
