Instagram is testing a new Stories UI that could have a big impact on your content strategy

This is not going to please marketers who prefer Instagram stories.

On The last few weeksInstagram is testing a new story presentation UI that basically hides story posts after a certain frame count.

As you can see in this example, shared by Content strategist Claudia FlannerySome stories are now showing only the first three frames with a small ‘show all’ prompt at the top left of the screen.

This will be easy to miss, which means that if you post more than three frames in your story, the chances of seeing the next one will be significantly lower.

As mentioned by Flannery:

“This will obviously lead to a significant reduction in views and reach, due to the fact that most are not likely to actively go and click to show everything.”

That, I doubt, is correct – so why would Instagram do that and would it be rolled out to all users?

We asked IG for some insight, and it responded:

“This feature is in early development and testing with a very small percentage of people. “

So there’s no real insight, just confirmation that it’s on the test.

My guess is that it’s tied to Instagram’s Reel-First Focus, which saw it launch a test of a new, full-screen UI, which would include feed posts, reels and stories in a single stream.

As you can see, in this format, stories with the number of frames will be shown at the bottom of the screen, indicating that users can swipe left to see more – and perhaps, in the meantime, Instagram seems to stop including many frames. Installing, taking users out of the vertical swiping experience.

Or maybe it’s a technical thing, and Instagram can’t do it beyond a certain frame count. Either way, if it is rolled out, you can expect your story to lose its effectiveness, especially in that last frame that very few people will manually tap into.

This may seem like the wrong way to go – but Reels is now becoming a key growth element on Instagram (Reels) Make up now More than 20% of the time people spend on Instagram) This is another subtle push of the platform for people to concentrate on the reels instead.

This is probably the only basis needed – we don’t know, because Instagram didn’t use any additional context, but again it is being tested and its impact on content strategies can be significant.

We will keep you updated on any progress.