Here's How To Vote In A Poll On Instagram Stories

Over the past year and a half, Instagram has released a lot of cool features that have totally dominated the web — but honestly, I think that this... this is it. This is the one. We've been gifted Instagram Stories, Instagram Filters, Instagram Geo-maps and now, an Instagram Story Poll. But, with the release of this new update on Oct. 3, you may be wondering how to participate in all the polls your friends are posting on your feed. Well, fret not: Here's how to vote in a poll on Instagram. Come on, you know you have opinions to share!

In an announcement earlier Oct. 3, Instagram introduced their latest in digital communication: an interactive polling sticker you can add to your Instagram Stories and watch as your followers vote on whatever question you ask. Or, you can vote in the polls the users you follow post. No longer will you need to wait more than a few seconds for the opinions of your friends and mutual follows, which are a new brand of acquaintance. "Screen friends," if you will. Waging an internal debate about getting bangs? Make it external. Torn between a millennial pink rug or a millennial pink lamp? Leave the decision up to the internet. Even swiping left or right could, in theory, now involve your real-life and virtual pals. The best part: the slate is wiped clean every 24 hours.

Since its creation in 2010, Instagram has been at the forefront of visual, digital communication trends. Can you remember a weekend without IG stories? Probably not. The app has become so pervasive within our culture and, particularly, within our generation, that a night out often isn't complete without at least one Boomerang of everyone clinking their drinks together.

The polling sticker is Instagram's first interactive Stories feature outside direct messaging. Even if you don't necessarily have a visual moment to share with friends, you can now make them part of your thought process. Mm, intimacy.

The how-to for creating a poll is straightforward: after updating your Instagram app and re-opening it, the interactive poll should now be visible within your arsenal of stickers, alongside standbys like geotags, the time, the weather and those cute li'l winking hearts.

Place the poll anywhere within your IG story and customize it to your liking. What do you want to ask the masses? Currently, this is a two-option-only poll, so you can ask your followers to choose between two answers, but still. Two whole things that you create on your own. As friends and family and strangers vote, your story will display which poll item is in the league, updating in real time. If you're curious who, specifically voted for what, simply swipe up to open the viewers list. You'll be able to see how many votes each item received and who cast what. For those of us who are pathologically nosy, this is a low-key godsend.

To accompany the new interactive polling sticker, Instagram has also added a li'l "zhuzh" to you digital art it: a color picker for text and brushes and an alignment tool for text and stickers. Personally, I am feeling particularly blessed by that alignment tool because the ability to tilt stickers has awakened my inner symmetry fanatic. That alignment tool also automatically kicks in when you begin placing your poll sticker and believe me when I say it's extremely satisfying.

While it's simple to create a poll, it's even simpler to vote in one. Follow these steps and exert your power of opinion over all your IG friends' lives in one fell tap.

... yeah, they'll thank you later.