Instagram has seen a lot of success with the Stories feature that it pinched from Snapchat with more people actually using the feature on Instagram than they do on the ephemeral messaging app. Stories are front and center in the Instagram app as they’re displayed in a bar above the feed. It appears that the Facebook-owned service wants people to interact with Stories more as it’s now testing a fixed Stories bar in the app.
The Stories bar normally stays at the top and doesn’t follow you down the feed but The Verge has noted that Instagram is now testing a persistent approach which will see the Stories bar follow you down the feed.
Some of the over 400 million people that use Instagram Stories on a daily basis might like this change but many others won’t. They might find it annoying to look at the Stories bubble no matter how far down they go in their feed.
Instagram only seems to be testing this change with a small number of users at this point in time. The company confirmed to the scribe that “We’re always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you,” but didn’t say if it’s planning to make this a permanent thing.