14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has recently announced that it introduced geostickers in Instagram, making them available to a couple of cities. Geostickers is the latest move through which Instagram seeks to provide its users with features that are strikingly similar to the ones found in Snapchat.
Geostickers will be made available in Instagram Stories for New York City and Jakarta and the company announced that its users can now pick from more than a dozen new stickers available in the two cities. Instagram first introduced stickers back in December, as a way to “bring your stories to life.”
Geostickers appear at the top of the screen when users tap on the sticker icon, after taking a photo or a video. Users in New York City or Jakarta will see a custom sticker of the city, as well as of select neighborhoods and landmarks, and “each one is designed to match the vibe of the location it represents.”
Available for iOS and Android smartphones
The new feature in Instagram Stories allows users to add as many stickers as they wish, and change their size or placement on the picture or video. There’s also the option to mix and match with other creative tools found in the app.
Followers watching the story can tap on the geosticker and see the location page. However, the story won’t actually appear on the location page. Instagram did announce that more creative tools would be brought soon. The update is part of Instagram version 10.11 for iOS in the App Store and for Android on Google Play.
Snapchat introduced its own Geofilters two years earlier than Instagram, but they can’t be rearranged or resized. Moveable geostickers were added in August last year. Instagram Stories continues to take inspiration from Snapchat’s features and brought its own improvements. Instagram Stories already has 150 million users who could potentially benefit from geostickers if they’re made available to users in other cities as well.
