Looks like Instagram is on a feature-adding frenzy of late. The latest, spotted in a small test pool, allows users to (apparently) ask their followers questions and receive answers.
The details: First spotted yesterday by Android Police, the feature appears to allow users to ask questions to their followers via Stories. Beyond that, there’s not much known about the feature. If the screenshots taken from various app users are any indication, the user asks a question and followers can answer via a text box underneath.
How long can your response be? How does the user see it? Is it sent via DMs or pasted into the Story itself? So far, we have no answers. It seems to be a new kind of sticker, joining the poll feature and the emoji slider. Beyond that, specific details about how it’ll work are sparse and very few users seem to have it.
The context: Instagram’s been adding features at a dizzying rate for the last few weeks. From IGTV to music in Stories, new stuff seems to be rolling out for Facebook’s prettier sibling every other day. Questions would be yet another Stories feature designed to engage followers, such as the aforementioned stickers that some Instagrammers have used to great effect.
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This is different from the polls, in that you offer an open floor for your followers to answer the question. Until we get more information, there’s no way to know exactly how the feature will work. It’s possible it’ll never make it past the group of test users — we’d have to wait for official confirmation from Instagram to know more.
But if it does eventually roll out to the rest of Instagram, I’d be curious to see how many people use it and what kinds of questions they ask.
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