How to Share Links in Your Instagram Stories: Testing the New Sticker Link Feature

Instagram is testing a new feature where you could add links to your Instagram Stories! This should be a huge help to Instagram users who are influencers and content creators. The feature is still in its testing phase, but developers are getting hopeful to bring it to the platform soon.

Instagram users could be very familiar with the phrase "link in bio." Instagram has a straightforward system that makes sharing multimedia content relatively easy. However, the system also has a strict character count for most of its text boxes. Whenever a user plans to share a website, they have to resort to posting the link description in their bio area, which was supposed to be the text box they use to describe things about themselves.

How to Share Links in Your Instagram Stories

Malay Mail reported that Instagram users who are "blue-ticked" or have over 10,000 followers can share "swipe-up" links in their stories. This works when a viewer opens an Instagram Story and swipes up over the image to get redirected to an external website. However, that feature is not available for non-influencers.

Fortunately, Instagram is testing a new feature in a form of a sticker. This sticker would be placed on top of the Instagram Story. The add-on sticker contains the link that redirects other users to the target website. Much like the current "swipe-up" feature, users can single tap the sticker to open it.

Viewers could still reply to the Instagram Story, as they normally would, with the message text box at the bottom. Note, however, that the link would expire together with the Instagram Story when the duration period is over.

Twitter user @alex193a posts an image preview for the new function when it is added to the Instagram interface.

Testing the New Instagram Sticker Link Feature

The Verge reported some of the statements that Vishal Shah, Instagram head of the project, said.

While the sticker link is a helpful feature that lets users explore the system, the feature would not be available to the whole "plan." Links will be limited to Instagram Stories, for now at least.

The sticker link is currently being tested by a targeted set of people who have found a "voice" in the platform but do not reach the level that Instagram requires for swipe-up privileges (users who have under 10,000 followers). Some of these testers might include Activists, who often post call-to-action multimedia content but are unable to redirect their followers to external website resources.

Instagram is testing the effectiveness of this new sicker link feature. They are keeping an eye against misinformation and spamming usage. If the tests prove successful, the feature might be added to Instagram's main system sometime this year.

Instagram aims to use the sticker to create an overall system with simplicity but also makes a lot more sense. Users and influencers might finally get a handy new feature that could greatly improve their social media experience