Instagram Checks ‘Selected People’ for Stories, Offering Extra Management Over Your Stories Viewers

Instagram has started a new test that allows users to select specific profiles to view their stories as part of an additional element in the story creation flow of each post.

As you can see in these screenshots, ‘Selected People’ being tested in Brazil allows users to tick the specific users that they want to allow to view each of their Stories updates.

It’s essentially an alternate version of Instagram’s current ‘Close friends‘Option that allows users to create a list of their most important contacts for story sharing.

As Instagram explained 9 to 5 Mac:

“Previously, people with the “Make Friends” function could only share stories with the same friends list without being able to edit them. With this test you can add, remove or keep people with different stories on your list. “

Better control over who sees your posts could help, while Instagram also determines that your post will stay with selected people until you edit it again. That means it’s almost exactly like the current Close Friends option, but with the added ability to easily change it each time you post.

That seems like a helpful under-the-radar addition that might just be a minor update, but could offer a significant improvement in posting capacity that will help share more intimate, private stories without having to go to everyone with every post to send.

It could also open up a new way of sharing certain stories for just a few friends at a time. Of course, you can also use Instagram Direct for this type of interaction, but the option to share normal stories in full screen mode that only certain users see could have some value, which could be a fun option for engagement.

And for brands it could also offer new capacities, such as the announcement of competition winners and exclusive offers for very specific target groups. Again, you can already use close friends to reach out to specific groups, but choosing just one person or smaller groups of people on each post could open up new ways to maximize brand engagement and bond with fans.

It seems like a good addition overall – Instagram is currently only testing it in Brazil, although it looks like it should be fully rolled out soon.