Facebook-owned photo and video-sharing social networking platform, Instagram has announced that its Link Sticker feature will now be accessible to all users.
The Instagram Link Stickers enables users to include hyperlinks in Stories in the form of stickers. The expansion comes as the company recently discontinued the “swipe-up” link feature for the new Link Stickers.
The photo and video-sharing app had started testing the Link Stickers feature earlier this year, but until now the feature has been limited to verified accounts or users with a large number of followers.
According to the social media giant, link sharing is helpful in many ways to accounts of all sizes and types, which is why it’s expanding access to enable everyone to share what they want in their Stories.
Instagram previously noted that the decision to expand Link Sticker access to everyone had to be made carefully, as it could impact the app’s integrity and safety. The company also said that accounts repeatedly sharing misinformation or hate speech will be blocked from using Link Stickers.
“We made this decision based on feedback we heard from the community about how impactful it would be for creators and businesses of all sizes to benefit from link sharing to grow in the same way larger accounts do,” Instagram said in a statement.
When Instagram announced the Link Stickers feature, the company stressed that they’re only meant for Stories and said it had no plans to bring them to the main Instagram feed or other parts of the app.
The users can access the feature by selecting the sticker tool from the top navigation bar when capturing or uploading content to Story. After selecting the “Link Sticker,” one can add the chosen link and then tap “Done.”
