Instagram Stories Get Into the Music Recommendation Game With Question Stickers

BY Evan Selleck

Published 18 Dec 2018

Music is a quick and easy way to spice up a video, especially if it’s a quick one shared via Instagram.

Which is why, back in June of this year, it wasn’t a surprise to hear that Instagram was adding “music stickers” to the mix, which would set a soundtrack to a Story shared on the social network. And now music is getting even more attention on the platform, as recommendations from other users start to get a boost. On Tuesday, Instagram announced that the “question stickers” can get a musical response from a user’s friends and followers, with the viewer choosing a song from the music library to respond to the posted question within a video Story.

Users can also share their favorite songs right in their Story as they see fit.

“You’ll see the new music icon when you use the questions sticker. When your friends respond, they can choose a song directly from the music library to share with you. Open the viewer’s list to see all their responses, and tap the play button to listen to the songs. When you share your favorites to your story, you’ll be able to capture a photo or video as the music plays in the background. You’ll also see new effects in the camera that respond to the beats and sounds of a song. To try the new effects, swipe to “Music” in the camera and you’ll see the new icons above the camera capture button.”

Instagram says these new music features are rolling out today with the latest version of Instagram, and it’s available for iOS and Android users.

That’s not all, though, as Instagram is also boosting Instagram Live with new ways to connect. The question sticker can now be used on a Live video, too, which can give viewers a bit more creativity when they are asking a question to someone they are watching. Here’s how it works, via Instagram’s announcement today:

“To ask a question and have it answered Live, go to someone’s story and respond to their questions sticker as you normally would. If they go Live to answer, you’ll see “Q&A” in your stories tray. Join the Live video and you’ll see the question they’re answering at that moment. If you want to ask more questions while they’re already live, you can go back to their story to ask a question and it’ll appear in their questions list. People going Live can also share photos and videos from their camera roll to their Live video, so you can see behind-the-scenes content from the creators you love.”

These new features are also going live today for Instagram on iOS and Android, as long as you have the most up-to-date version of the app installed. A link to download Instagram from the App Store is available below.

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[via Instagram]