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Here's How To See Your Poll Results On Instagram Stories

by Jen McGuire

Decision-making is hard, especially now that we have a million choices for even the most boring decision. I mean, try finding just one white T-shirt that feels like it's going to work for you without wondering if the other 300 white T-shirts you've looked at might be a smidge better. Thankfully, it seems Instagram has come up with an solution for that. On Tuesday, the social media sharing giant rolled out poll results for Instagram Stories, and I'm assuming it's going to make life easier or harder, depending on what're you're polling.

According to a blog post by Instagram, polls in Instagram Stories will allow you to ask your friends a question and give them a chance to vote on answers. Sort of like a Magic 8 Ball, but with infinitely better results. Instagram explained in the blog post:

Whether you’re trying to plan tomorrow’s outfit, choosing which class to take or figuring out where to go for dinner, now it’s easy to share a two-option poll right in your story. After you’ve taken a photo or video for your story, select the “poll” sticker and place it anywhere you’d like — you can write out your own question and even customize the poll choices.

So if you have questions like, "Should I buy a cat?" or "How would I look with a shaved head?" and want to give your followers the chance to vote on the answers, now is your chance.

Not only will your followers get to vote, they will also get to a chance to keep up with the results, according to Instagram:

After you’ve shared your poll, your friends and followers can immediately start voting and see real-time results. Once someone has voted on your poll, they’ll see which choice is in the lead at any given moment. And if they watch your story again later, they’ll see the latest results.

Of course, this is basically the coolest thing ever.

Want to know how to see your own results from the poll? Instagram has made it incredibly easy not only to see your poll results in Instagram stories, but also to see how many followers voted each way and, perhaps even more importantly, which followers voted for what. Instagram explained:

To see your own poll results, swipe up to open the viewers list for that part of your story. There you’ll see everything you need to get the best answer for your question. Not only will you see how many votes each option received, but you’ll also see who voted and what option they chose. That way, you’ll be able to compare votes from the friends and followers whose opinions you trust most. And just like your story, your poll and its results will disappear after 24 hours.

This is the first interactive feature Instagram has rolled out, and it's promising that'll be a hit. After all, making decisions is just about the least fun thing a person can do, but voting on other people's decisions is the best. What could go wrong?

And let's not forget... Snapchat has yet to introduce a polling option for users. Smooth sailing ahead for the geniuses at Instagram who seem to know us all so well.

Everyone take a moment to think about all the things you might be able to get done in your day if you leave the decisions to someone else. Napping, staring blankly off into space, snacking. The world will be your oyster as you leave the decision-making to your minions (I mean, friends) on Instagram.

Along with the polling feature for Instagram Stories, the social media platform also rolled out two new tools on Wednesday; a color picker for text and brushes, and an alignment tool for stickers and texts. Now all that needs to be done is for you to decide what your first polling question should be. Happy voting and polling!

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