What is Boomerang? Instagram explains

Today, we're introducing a few new tools to help you make your story even more fun: Boomerang and mentions. We're also starting to test links inside some stories.

Boomerang

Boomerang lets you turn everyday moments into something fun and unexpected. Now you can easily take a Boomerang right inside Instagram.

Swipe right from your feed to open the stories camera. A new format picker under the record button lets you select "Boomerang" mode. Tap record and the camera will stitch together a burst of photos into a mini video that plays forward and backward. Then share it to your story.

Mentions

Share who you're with or who you're thinking of by mentioning them in your story.

Mentioning people in stories works the same as it does in captions and comments. When you add text to your story, type "@" followed by a username and select the person you'd like to mention. Their username will appear underlined in your story. And when someone taps the mention, they'll see a pop-up that takes them to that profile.

You'll receive a notification in Direct when you're mentioned in someone else's story. Just tap the preview to go straight to the story for as long as it's live. If someone you don't follow mentions you, you'll see the notification in your message requests.

'See More' Links

Watching someone's story and want to dig deeper? You may spot "See More" links at the bottom of some stories. This is a test that lets verified accounts add links so it's easy to learn more. From discovering the latest music by Chance the Rapper (@chancetherapper) to learning about a new movie starring Dwayne Johnson (@therock) or reading a related article from Bustle (@bustle), tap "See More" or swipe up to view the link right inside the app.

These updates for Instagram Stories are available as part of Instagram version 9.7 available for iOS in the Apple App Store, for Android in Google Play and for Windows 10 in the Windows Store.

Article by the Instagram team