Everyone has those people they follow on Instagram that when they come up in your feed, you can't help but roll your eyes or scroll even faster (Don't lie: a certain someone just popped up in your head, didn't they… ?)
Maybe they're guilty of being multi-posters (someone who posts more than once a day on Instagram), maybe their Stories are way too much and way too frequent, or maybe the content their posting has shifted from fun and interesting to constant selfies and "deep", motivational quotes.
Regardless of your reasons for getting sick of your co-worker, friend, or family member on Instagram, sometimes hitting the Unfollow button can cause a lot more problems than you'd expect: some people have apps that track who unfollows them and they'll know the second you say bye-bye to their profile, and that could make things a wee bit awkward during your next work meeting, birthday party, or family gathering (ever have someone come up to you and ask why you unfollowed them? Yeah. It's really awkward).
Now Instagram has released a feature that allows users to merely mute a profile rather than unfollow altogether, and while this option has existed for IG Stories for a while, it is a brand new option for full profiles and posts.
Instagram said that it added this feature to make your feed more personalized, but it acknowledges there was clearly user demand. "We've also heard it may be a useful tool for managing complex social dynamics," said a rep for the company. (BuzzFeed)
Sound useful? Well here's how you can mute Instagram Stories and Instagram posts!
- How to mute Instagram Stories
- How to hide your Instagram Stories from certain people
- How to mute Instagram posts
How to mute Instagram Stories
- Launch Instagram from your Home screen.
- Press and hold the Instagram Story you would like to mute. You might need to go to the person's profile if they don't automatically appear at the top of your screen.
- Tap Mute.
The Instagram Stories from that particular profile will no longer appear in your newsfeed. The only way to watch them is to physically go to that particular profile and watch stories from there.
How to hide your Instagram Stories from certain people
- Launch Instagram from your homepage.
- Tap on your Profile in the lower right corner.
- Tap Settings. It looks like a gear in a box.
- Tap Story Settings.
- Tap Hide Story from at the top of the screen.
- Tap The profile you would like to hide from seeing your stories.
When you're happy with the list of people you have, tap Done in the upper right corner to hide them from your Stories.
You can unhide someone from your Stories by going back and deselecting them.
How to mute Instagram posts
- Launch Instagram from your homepage.
- Tap the three dots to the upper left of the person's post you would like to mute.
- Tap Mute Posts.
If you want to mute both Stories and posts from a person, tap on the Mute Posts and Stories option instead.
Do you mute or unfollow?
Are you someone who cares about social media dynamics, especially when it comes to following and unfollowing? Or do you really not care if someone unfollows you rather than mutes you?
Let me know if you'll be taking advantage of the new mute features in the comments down below!
