Instagram update lets users like Stories without sending DM

San Francisco: Meta-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram has announced a new feature called "Private Story Likes" that will change how users interact with other people's Stories.

Users who receive the update will be able to like someone's Stories without sending a DM. The news was announced by Instagram head Adam Mosseri on Twitter, reports 9To5Mac.

While currently any interactions through Instagram Stories are sent by direct messages to the user's inbox, the new likes system will work independently.

As demonstrated in a video shared by Mosseri, the new interface will show a heart icon when you are viewing Stories in the Instagram app, the report said.

Once you tap it, the other person will get a regular notification, not a private message, it added.

Instagram's head said the system is built to be "private" and will not provide counting of likes. This, of course, is expected to differentiate Stories from regular Instagram posts, which will continue to have public counts of likes.

As for the feature, it will make it easier and more fun for users to show support and appreciation for content shared on Instagram Stories.

The report said that the idea here is make sure that people can express more support for each other, but also to clean up DMs a little bit.