Instagram introduces new Stories feature

Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram has introduced a new feature called Instagram stories which lets you share photos and videos that have a life span of no more than 24 hours with friends. The feature bears a striking resemblance to Snapchat Stories, where the stories lasts for 24 hours before disappearing.

With Instagram Stories, you can share unlimited photos and videos, which appears together in a slideshow format. Similar to Snapchat, you can doodle on your photo, add text and emojis before sharing them. Any Stories you share on Instagram will disappear after no more than 24 hours, and will no appear in your profile.

Stories from friends that you follow will appear at the top of your feed. You can view Stories from your friends by tapping on their profile photo. If there's a Story, you haven't viewed, a colored ring will appear around the person's profile photo.

Unlike regular posts, you cannot likes or comment on Stories, instead you'll have to send the person a Direct Message. If your account is set to private, your Stories will only be visible to your followers. You can even control stories by hiding them from select followers.

Instagram Stories is now available for Android and iOS users.