After a few months of testing, Instagram confirms that Link Stickers are now available to all users worldwide, regardless of followers count.
For years, the only way to share a link on Instagram Stories was to be verified or have over 10,000 followers, which could be accomplished with a swipe up. Instagram experimented with allowing anyone to place links in Stories via a Sticker in June. In August, Instagram continued to use Stickers in place of the swipe up, but only for verified accounts or those with 10,000 or more followers. Instagram has finally decided to allow anyone, regardless of size, to share links via Stickers on Stories.
Sharing links via Instagram Stories is simple and accessible to all users. Instagram provides a simple tool for including hyperlinks to websites or articles in Stories, and we’ll show you how to use it.
This is great news for emerging artists who want to share links to their music across stores or sell tickets and merch instead of directing fans to “the link in the bio.” In contrast to the old swipe-up method, a Link Sticker displays the URL, allowing the end-user to see where they will be redirected to before proceeding. DMs can still be sent on Stories with links using the new method.
The “Links” sticker has one limitation: you can only add one per Story.
How to Include Links in Instagram Stories
- To start a new Story, swipe right or tap the + icon in the top right corner of the Instagram app.
- Take a picture or video, or upload one from your camera roll.
- To access Stickers, swipe up or tap the smiley face in the top right corner.
- Click the Link button.
- Enter the URL, then press the Done button.
- Change the color of the link and make any other changes to your Story before tapping Send to and selecting where to send it.
The feature appears to be still in the process of being rolled out to all users. In an effort to limit harmful content on the app, new accounts and those who share things like hate speech and misinformation, as well as other content that violates Facebook/Community Instagram’s Guidelines, will no longer be able to access Link Stickers.