Instagram Could Be Working on Exclusive Stories, Paid Subscription Model

Instagram is developing a new feature called “Exclusive Stories.” This feature looks to offer access of creators' stories only to fans – possibly a term used for paid subscribers. Exclusive Stories has leaked in several screenshots, and Instagram has also reportedly confirmed that it is testing it internally and is under development. This comes after Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced that the company is working towards bringing a host of new features, including new ones to support creators and help them monetise better on the platform.

Software developer Alessandro Paluzzi has shared screenshots of the new Exclusive Stories feature on Twitter. When a creator puts out a story meant only for ‘fans,' the story will be blocked for unpaid followers, and a dialogue box will show up informing those users that the Exclusive Story is only available for fan club members. The screenshots suggest that these stories will show up with a purple icon. It is similar to the icon that shows up when you share stories with your close friends list. But that one is green in colour and the Exclusive Story icon will be purple.

Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that the screenshots of ‘Exclusive Stories' are from an internal prototype that's now in development, but not yet being publicly tested. It reportedly declined to share any specific details about its plans, saying they're not at a place to talk about this project just yet.

Creators will also have the option to save their Exclusive Story as a Highlight so that new members, who join in later, have something to see at the very beginning. This upcoming feature looks to be similar to what Twitter introduced with Super Follow recently. This feature will let Twitter influencers sell exclusive content to paying subscribers. Twitter has already opened applications from users who want to be the first to test new content subscription feature.

Mosseri has announced that Instagram is also working on multiple features for creators to enable more monetisation opportunities for them. However, he didn't detail on what these features might be. These screenshots suggest that Instagram is also working on a paid subscription model for creators, although this feature is still under development, and there's no clarity on when it will be rolled out.