Instagram is rolling out comments for Stories. Previously, the short-lived Stories could only be replied to in direct messages. This new feature offers a more visible way for users to interact with their friends' posts. The original poster will not receive the comments in a DM; a rep from Meta said that "comments live only on your Story."

Story comments can be turned on or off for any individual post. If enabled, comments can be seen by anyone following an account, but only mutuals can leave comments. As with the Story post type, the comments will disappear after 24 hours. Small profile images of the commenters will appear at the bottom of a person's Story icon, so you'll know there are comments attached before you tap to view the post.

People can still choose to respond to Stories with a DM if the user has their account set to accept those messages. There's also an option to send a DM in response to a Story comment, which you can do by swiping left on the text and tapping the DM icon.

Instagram has been giving users more ways to snazz up their Stories. The posts can be created with customizable templates, get an AI-generated background or use a growing number of interactive stickers.