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How To Get Stories Highlights On Instagram

by Michelle Stein

If you're anything like me, you love the stories feature on Instagram — just not the fact that said stories only last for 24 hours before *poof* they're gone forever. Well, Instagram has rolled out a brand new option on Tuesday that aims to help users who want to keep their favorite stories around indefinitely. It's called Stories Highlights, and honestly, it looks pretty darn cool. Here's how to get story highlights on Instagram because it might be your next favorite feature on the popular app.

So what is Stories Highlights, anyway? It seems Instagram is essentially copying Snapchat's Memories, and then taking it to the next level. With Stories Highlights, users can create a permanent place to display the formerly temporary stories, according to a blog post from Instagram. That's because Instagram will automatically archive stories to a private area of your profile after they disappear. There, you'll be able created Stories Highlights — "named collections of your past Stories that show up in a new horizontal bar across the top of your profile", according to Tech Crunch.

As more and more people adopt Stories, we realized that the profile has become less and less representative of you and your life” an Instagram spokesperson told Tech Crunch. “And yet the profile is one of the top destinations on Instagram — it’s a powerful space for self-expression and feeling closer to others. But up until now there was no way to keep your favorite stories or add them to your profile — we wanted to fix that.”

So here's what you need to do in order to start using the new Stories Highlights feature: Make sure you update to version 25 of the Instagram app. That's it — viola! Now you can start creating highlights of your very own. Now that you've updated your Instagram app, let's take a look at how to create a Stories Highlight. Here's a step-by-step guide, according to a news release from Instagram:

  1. Go to your profile.
  2. There, you'll see a brand new "Highlights" section, right beneath your bio.
  3. Tap the first circle that says, "New."
  4. You'll automatically be taken to your archived stories. Select the stories you'd like to include in this highlight group. (Like friends, your pet, selfies, etc.)
  5. Tap "next."
  6. Name your highlight! The shorter the better, so it won't get cut off.
  7. Tap "Edit cover." (Keep in mind that you can't zoom in on a cover photo at this time.)
  8. At the bottom of your screen, tap the media you want to use as a cover. Next, reposition it until you like the way it loos within the circle.
  9. Tap "Done."
  10. Tap "Add."
  11. Congrats! You've created your very first highlight, and it's now live on your profile.

This guy has a super simple tutorial for creating and organizing Stories Highlights. Bonus: He's pretty darn entertaining.

Here are a few things to keep in mind, according to the news release from Instagram:

  • Swipe-ups, polling stickers and other stories features will continue to work — plus, you can remove and edit Highlights as you like.
  • You can't add a live video to your Highlights at this time.

Although I'm not a huge Instagram addict, I still think Stories Highlights is going to be awesome for the app. I like it that users still have the option of creating a story that disappears from the public eye after a day — but also that it's still available to view privately and can be later included in a Stories Highlight, if so desired. Sorry Snapchat loyalists, but I'm going to have to agree with this Twitter user: "Final nail in Snapchat’s coffin for me."

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