You know that "IT ME!!" feeling you get whenever you stumble on a surprise picture of yourself in your friends' Instagram Stories? Instagram rolled out an update today so you can have that feeling all the time, by adding ways to tag your friends in your Stories. If you're wondering how to tag your friends in Instagram Stories with @Mentions, it's actually just as easy as writing their usernames in the comments of a picture. Just make sure you have both updated your apps!
Along with this rollout, Instagram is introducing several other new updates, including the ability to make Boomerangs within Instagram Stories directly on the app. Verified accounts will also now be able to add links to their Stories, so you can tap the link from a related article or see more information on a topic by clicking on the link within the app. (You can check out a nifty one on Bustle's Instagram Story right now!) All of these functions are super intuitive, but in case you need a helping hand, here's a step-by-step guide on how to go about tagging the friends who play starring roles in your Instagram Story so everyone who follows you can see how baller they are, too.
First And Foremost: Update Your App!
If your Instagram doesn't auto-update, then go into the App Store, find the Updates button on the bottom right, and scroll down until you see the Instagram icon. In order for you to tag your friends and for your friends to see the tag, you'll both have to have your apps updated.
Type An "@" Into The Text On Your Story
Then type the first letter of your friend's username. Instagram will pull from your followers and suggest the usernames of people, which you can refine by continuing to type the name. Once you see your friend's username, you can tap to select it.
Jazz It Up
Add your Instagram flair by highlighting the text of their username. When other users are flipping through your story, they'll be able to tap the username of your friend and go directly to your friend's profile. (I imagine this will be exceedingly helpful for when I am doing very important journalistic things, like trying to figure out the identities of semi-famous squad members of Taylor Swift.)
Your friends will get notifications in their message boxes when you tag them that you will also be able to see, so you can keep track of which stories you've tagged each other in. The update is available on Nov. 10, so you should be able to update your Instagram app to tag friends using @Mentions today! Happy tagging, y'all.
Images: Courtesy of Instagram
