You can now share Instagram stories to a close friends list

Instagram is rolling out a new feature that allows you to share your stories to a selected group of friends only. This is pretty much similar to what Snapchat does where you can directly send snaps to the user. Essentially, this feature adds a layer of privacy as some stories may not be meant for all your followers.

To add users to your Close Friends list, simply go to your profile and click on the right menu and select the “Close Friends” option. From there you can add as many people as you want to your Close Friends’ list. No one knows that you have added them as a close friend that is they don’t get any notification. Furthermore, you can’t request someone to add them to their list. 

If you are viewing someone’s story who have added you as a close friend, you will see a green badge when you are viewing their stories. Whereas when your close friend views your story, there will be a green ring around his/her’s profile photo.

What are your thoughts regarding this new feature? Was it really the need of the hour?