How to Opt Out of Sharing Instagram Stories With Random Strangers
I really like the Instagram Stories feature. I like to tag the companies I work for with stories and friends, and I probably spend too much time during the day looking at what the people I follow are doing (and sharing) on the service. Instagram added several new features to Stories this week, notably ones that highlight stories by location or hashtag.
With new additions, you might see something at the top of the Browse tab, like New York, which will include a series of public posts from New York, or #brunch for photos people have shared and included a hashtag. It will be next to your friend’s posts in the top section.
If you want strangers to discover your Instagram, this is probably great news. More people will see your messages than they would otherwise.
However, if you have a public account so that all of your friends and friends of friends can see your messages, you can opt out of some of your stories from being shared with the masses.
Stories will only be available if your account is open to everyone. These will be shared by default whenever you use a location or hashtag sticker, so keep this in mind in the future.
The only thing you really need is to make your account private. However, you can opt out of every photo.
To do this, enter the list of viewers of your story. You will see the location or hashtag at the top of this viewer list. Click the X button next to it, and then click Hide to remove your post from your shared history.
Conversely, if you’ve been trying to grow your Instagram followers, you might consider adding location information and hashtag stickers to improve your reach.