Meta has just added avatar reactions to Instagram Stories in a push to make the app even more engaging and customise how users can react to Stories.
Until now, users were able to comment on Stories using emojis.
By adding Avatars, they could soon be able to create custom characters with a range of sticker responses.
New #Instagram Feature:
Instagram has started testing Avatar Reactions for Stories alongside the already existing Emoji Reactions. pic.twitter.com/WsHNw99PQL- Advertisement -Virtual event for brands focused on subscriber growth
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There’s little doubt that avatars and emoticons are good options to promote user engagement and that’s something Meta has been building and expanding upon.
At the same time, it could open the door for extended advertising opportunities.
Snapchat, for example, already includes avatar options for brands such as Nike which can then dress up their characters in their branded sportswear.
And as a growing number of people are looking to diversify across popular channels such as Instagram, it’s plausible that some of them may pay for the option to customise avatars.