Instagram is preparing a new feature called Exclusive Stories that will allow creators to upload exclusive content on Stories for their fans. Fans wishing to access this feature will likely have to pay a subscription fee, much like Super Follow on Twitter.
The existence of this feature was first discovered by developer Alessandro Paluzzi. He has shared several screenshots of this feature to his Twitter account in the past week.
Instagram confirmed that the screenshots were indeed from an internal prototype under development, but had not yet been publicly tested. This Facebook-owned social media refuses to share specific information about this feature.
Although there is no official information from Instagram, how Exclusive Stories work can be seen from the screenshots shared by Paluzzi. Exclusive stories shared by creators will have a different color, namely purple.
When other Instagram users find Exclusive Stories, they’ll see a message saying the content is viewable only by members.
Due to its exclusive nature, these Stories cannot be screenshots but can be shared as Highlights. Creators are asked to save exclusive Stories as highlights so new fans can see previous exclusive content.
The presence of the Exclusive Stories feature on Instagram is actually not too surprising. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri has previously said his company is exploring features like subscriptions and NFT.
Instagram isn’t the only social media platform that allows fans to give money directly to their favorite creators. Twitter recently opened registration for the Super Follows feature, which allows creators to share exclusive tweets with fans who are already subscribed.