Instagram's new feature lets you publicly comment on people's stories

Instagram is always looking for ways to keep us more engaged, and their latest move is pretty exciting—they’re rolling out a feature that lets people comment publicly on each other’s Stories.

Instead of just reacting with an emoji or sending a DM, you can now leave a public comment for everyone to see. This could bring a more interactive, community-driven feel to Stories, which over 500 million people use daily.

The feature feels similar to how users can comment during Instagram Live, adding a public conversation element to Stories.

I’ve already had the chance to test this feature, and all you have to do is update your Instagram app to give it a try too.

Once you do, you’ll see an option to leave a public comment on Stories, but only your followers and people you follow back can comment, keeping interactions personal and reducing the risk of random trolls.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can disable the option for public comments if you prefer to keep the experience more personal. This way, you can still control who gets to engage with your content, limiting comments to your DMs if that’s what you prefer.

And, just like the Stories themselves, these comments disappear after 24 hours, keeping everything temporary and in the moment.

This update also fits into Instagram’s broader strategy to deepen user interaction. In addition to this, Instagram has been testing unskippable ad breaks and AI tools that can respond to DMs automatically.

From my perspective, this feature could transform how over 2.4 billion Instagram users engage on the platform, making conversations more open and community-driven, yet still private enough. But will users like this feature? Only time will tell.