Instagram is apparently working on allowing users to share stickers of their personal avatars in Stories.
This particular tidbit of information was picked up on by social media app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi. The new Avatar Stories feature was tweeted out via screenshots posted on Paluzzi's Twitter handle. The feature's easy enough to use. When a user is putting up a story on Instagram, and wishes to add stickers and the like, simply searching up Avatar will lead them to the new addition. Clicking upon it will let users pick their Avatar and its relevant pose, which can then go hand in hand with the story being posted.
For users that currently don't have an Avatar, clicking upon the sticker will lead to a pop up text box appearing on the screen. The box will encourage users to create their own Avatar, which can then be used in stickers and the like. Avatars can also be used across multiple different platforms, such as Facebook or WhatsApp, although the text box doesn't disclose this information. This is because Avatars started out on Facebook, the sister site to our other two social media platforms.
Of course, Facebook didn't invent the idea of a virtual self being used as a placeholder for the user's true self. Such a concept's been around ever since MMORPGs started becoming popular. In fact, one of the most popular examples of avatars (and we're not talking about the Nickelodeon show or the blue alien movie) happens to be the Mii feature in the Nintendo Switch gaming console. Then again, not being an original idea doesn't mean that it can't be used again. Furthermore, it's hardly like Facebook really cares if something's original or not. Just that it's usable (cough cough, Snapchat started the concept of Stories, cough cough).
Your Avatar can accompany you across Facebook posts and stories, they can frequent WhatsApp chats in the form of stickers, and now they can interact with your followers on Instagram. Avatars can also be set up in different poses and the like, so have fun with that if you will. The feature isn't currently available across all regions, and is thus possibly under a form of A/B beta testing. So, it might take a few months before we see the final product across all mobile devices.
Read next: Instagram tests to display user’s profile at the bottom while going through Instagram Reel
This particular tidbit of information was picked up on by social media app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi. The new Avatar Stories feature was tweeted out via screenshots posted on Paluzzi's Twitter handle. The feature's easy enough to use. When a user is putting up a story on Instagram, and wishes to add stickers and the like, simply searching up Avatar will lead them to the new addition. Clicking upon it will let users pick their Avatar and its relevant pose, which can then go hand in hand with the story being posted.
Of course, Facebook didn't invent the idea of a virtual self being used as a placeholder for the user's true self. Such a concept's been around ever since MMORPGs started becoming popular. In fact, one of the most popular examples of avatars (and we're not talking about the Nickelodeon show or the blue alien movie) happens to be the Mii feature in the Nintendo Switch gaming console. Then again, not being an original idea doesn't mean that it can't be used again. Furthermore, it's hardly like Facebook really cares if something's original or not. Just that it's usable (cough cough, Snapchat started the concept of Stories, cough cough).
Your Avatar can accompany you across Facebook posts and stories, they can frequent WhatsApp chats in the form of stickers, and now they can interact with your followers on Instagram. Avatars can also be set up in different poses and the like, so have fun with that if you will. The feature isn't currently available across all regions, and is thus possibly under a form of A/B beta testing. So, it might take a few months before we see the final product across all mobile devices.
Read next: Instagram tests to display user’s profile at the bottom while going through Instagram Reel
