Instagram had just confirmed that they will be retiring the swipe up feature that allows people to visit external webpages by swiping up starting 30 August, but users will now be able to use something else to help take people to external websites.
Instead of linking followers with ‘swipe up’, users will now be able to direct their followers to external sites through tappable stickers.
It will functions exactly the same as ‘swipe up’ but the changes are made to streamline the stories creation experience and offer more ‘creative control’ to the user.
The update was being tested by Instagram back in June, where they started testing these stickers for various users, not just people who already had swipe up privilages.
However, the criteria for being able to use the swipe up feature will still remain after the update. Only users who are either verified or have met the threshold for follower count will be able to use link stickers.
On the other hand, creators can exercise their creativity in designing their Instagram Stories. They are able to choose different styles of stickers, resize them, and then place them anywhere on their Stories for maximum engagement.
In addition, their viewers will now be able to react and reply to posts that have the Link Sticker attached, just like any other Story. Previously, viewers won’t be able to react to Stories with ‘Swipe Ups’.
According the The Verge, Vishal Shah, Instagram’s former head of product sad the stickers will “fit more with the way people currently use the platform”. He also explained that the goal was to more widely roll out the stickers.
The key difference between the two features, apart from the obvious gesture difference, is viewers can respond to stories that have a link sticker, but cannot respond to swipe up stories.
Meanwhile, Instagram is still considering whether to roll out the ‘Link Stickers’ to more users.
According to a Twitter user, the link stickers will be available next to options like “Mentions”, “Locations” and “Music” for Instagram Stories.
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