It was a bold move for Instagram to introduce Stories to their platform, back in August. On the surface, it was very similar to the likes of Snapchat. We even wrote a blog about the new introduction. Yet now, the new changes that rolled out last week offer that extra gem that will set them apart.

Whilst you could already tag accounts in your posts on Instagram, on stories, this wasn’t a feature that was available. From last Thursday, this changed. However, unlike just being tagged in a general post, this new notification lands in your Direct Messages rather than activity feed. So watch out for those DM messages.

Also, if you are lucky enough to be a verified account, you’ll be able to tag websites too. For those who are sponsored by brands and companies, this has just made your job a lot easier, as customers can be forwarded straight to the sites you want them to be.

Boomerang is Instagram’s very own one-second video app, whereby you collect videos every day for a year and can see your progression over time. The app can be downloaded here. This is getting another boost too as it is also being integrated into the new update; with features such as being able to switch between front and back cameras, and the length of the clip varying, available in the in-built version rather than on the app.

Overall, Instagram Stories is just getting started, so it seems. Hopefully time will tell all that they have in store for us.