Instagram adds Stories feature to mobile web

Facebook-owned Instagram will now allow users to view its most popular feature Stories, both on mobile web and desktop, reports said on Friday.

"Initially, the feature will allow desktop and mobile web users to view Instagram Stories posted by their friends and others they follow. But in the months ahead, the web version will allow you to post to Stories too", says a report in Tech Crunch.

Instagram wrote in a blog post: "Stories has quickly become an important part of the Instagram experience -- over 250 million people use it every day to see what their friends are doing in the moment."

Hit by the growth of Instagram Stories, photo-sharing platform Snapchat managed to add only seven million daily active users (DAUs) in the second quarter of 2017.

"We believe deeply in the long-term success of Snap," CEO Evan Spiegel told analysts after the results, adding that "the company is making progress".

The DAUs grew from 143 million in Q2 2016 to 173 million in Q2 2017 -- an increase of 30.5 million or 21 per cent (year-over-year).

On the other hand, Instagram Stories has garnered over 250 million MAUs. The application currently has nearly 700 million users globally.

--IANS

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