Instagram Stories are only visible for a short amount of time. Unlike other social media platforms that make it easy to share or retweet another person’s original content, Instagram is a little more tricky.
But, if you enjoy someone’s Instagram Story enough, you may want to show it off to other friends and followers. This article discusses how and when to share other users’ content on the platform.
How to Share an Instagram Story
There are various ways to share another person’s Instagram Story. However, there are also rules when doing so. Let’s get started!
How to Share an Instagram Story to Your Story
As usual, it is straightforward to share someone else’s Story on Instagram.
The ability to add someone’s Story to your own depends heavily on whether or not the creator tagged you. If the user didn’t tag you, there is no option to add the Story to yours.
There are certainly more options below, but for now, the topic is how to share someone else’s Instagram Story, assuming you got tagged in it.
- Open Instagram and tap on the “paper airplane” (direct messages icon) in the upper right-hand corner.
- Open the “tagging notification” you received when you were tagged in the Story.
- Tap on “Add to Your Story” and select “Send” to post it to your own, and then publish the Story as normal.
How to Send a Story to Someone Else
If you weren’t tagged, you could still send your Instagram Story to another user. While this doesn’t post the Story for everyone else to see, this method is helpful if you want to show it to a few friends.
The limitation is that the original poster’s account would need to be set to “Public.” If it is not, you won’t see the option to send it to another person.
To send an existing Story to another user on Instagram, do this:
- Tap on the “Story” at the top of your screen.
- Tap on the “paper airplane” icon to the right of the text box.
- Tap “Send” next to each user you want to get the Story.
That’s all there is to it. If the paper airplane icon does not appear next to the text box, the other user likely has their account set to private, or they haven’t set the permissions to allow sharing.
Share Instagram Stories Externally
Another nifty function of Instagram is sharing the link of a Story using an external application. For example, if you want to show your friend a cute or funny Instagram Story, you can copy the link and send it to them in a text message.
Here’s how:
- Tap on the “Instagram Story,” then tap on the “vertical ellipsis” (three vertical dots) in the upper right-hand corner.
- Select “Share To…”
- Choose the “application” or “contact” you’d like to send the link to.
When your friend taps on the link, Instagram opens and takes them directly to the Story.
Setting Your Stories as Public to Make Them Shareable
Instagram Stories have to be set to “Public” to reshare them, which is the default setting unless you manually change it to Private. Ideally, you should keep as much of your account public as practical and only go private if you’re having issues with someone. Otherwise, it defeats the object of being on social media. It’s your account, though, so you need to do whatever works for you.
A Public profile is available for anyone to see, and it will appear in searches and suggested lists. A Private account is viewable only by friends that you follow. You need to follow them back for them to view your Private account. It is not enough for them to just follow you.
To set your account to public or private, do this:
- Tap your “profile” icon on Instagram to access the Menu.
- Select “Settings” then “Privacy.”
- Choose “Account Privacy.”
- Select “Private Account” or “Public Account” depending on your needs.
By default, your profile gets set to Public, so you only really need to do this if you’re changing to or from a private setting.
Tagging Someone in Instagram to Make a Story Shareable
The second key component in sharing each other’s stories is getting tagged within it. You can only repost a Story when the other person tags you in it. So, how can you tag someone in Instagram Stories?
- Create your “Story” as normal with an image, captions, titles, stickers or whatever.
- Select “any space” in the image and write an “@mention” using their username.
You can tag multiple people within a Story, and each one receives a notification that they got tagged. You cannot prevent this notification, but you can avoid your Story from getting reposted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some more answers to your questions about Instagram’s sharing features.
Can I share someone’s post to my Instagram Story?
Yes! Assuming the user whose post you’re trying to share has a public account, you can share it to your Story. All you need to do is tap the paper airplane icon and tap ‘Add post to your story.’
Your Story will then contain a clickable link to the post you’ve chosen to share. You can also share Reels by following the same steps.
How do I stop someone from sharing my Stories?
If you don’t want other users to see the option to share your Story, you can toggle the option off in Instagram’s Settings. Here’s how:
1. Tap on the Profile icon. Then, tap the three horizontal lines in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Tap on ‘Settings.’
3. Tap on ‘Story.’ Then, toggle the switch next to ‘Allow sharing to Story.’
You can also keep others from sharing your Story privately in messages by toggling that switch.
Will I get a notification if someone shares my Story?
No. Instagram doesn’t notify its users if someone shares their Story.
In closing, reposting is a crucial aspect of social media but use it sparingly. Think of it as a game or dating app, and imagine you have only one or two swipes per day or week. Naturally, you would keep them in reserve until you find something exceptional or exciting and only repost that. If you Repost on Instagram too often, you will find yourself unfollowed or ignored, and nobody wants that on a social network!
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