Instagram is no stranger to rolling out updates — just last month, they expanded the Close Friends feature so you can share Reels and feed posts with your besties. This time around, the “Add Yours” sticker, where people hop on a trend to share pics related to trending prompts on Instagram Stories, is the feature getting the update treatment. Personally, I can’t go on Stories without seeing at least five people sharing couple photos using “Add Yours.” (Have mercy, people! Some of us are single!) But on Dec. 15, the feature is getting an upgrade you won’t want to miss: “Add Yours” templates, which will take these photo- and moment-sharing trends to the next level.
“Add Yours” templates allow users to create — and borrow, from other users — Story templates that have specific GIFs, text, or gallery images pinned to them. This will make it easier than ever to hop on trends, whether that’s doing a “This or That” quiz for New Year’s 2024 or just saving you some time on formatting your own Story post. I’m no psychic, but I definitely foresee this feature aiding the spread of interactive memes, like that time everyone I follow was making those “how it started” vs. “how it’s going” posts, or the user-specific bingos we were all making during lockdown in early 2020.
Creating your own “Add Yours” template is pretty straightforward: All you have to do is add the text, GIFs, and any other elements you want to include to a Story post, hit the new “Add Yours Templates” from the Sticker Tray, select the elements to pin them so they become part of the template, and then share your Story post as normal.
And when it comes to using an existing “Add Yours” template, it honestly couldn’t be easier, IMO. Once you find a Story with an “Add Yours” template you want to use, tap the “Add Yours” button, which will take you to the Camera. There, you can see all the elements the original template used, and customize your post to your liking. Instagram will even show you who else has hopped on the trend, if you’re curious — just tap the faces on the left side of the sticker.
It’s too early to know for sure yet, but I foresee the “Add Yours” templates taking off because of their sheer convenience, and because they’ll pretty up your Story posts a little bit. I know I could never pull off the meticulous formatting some of the influencers on my feed use on their Story posts, but now? I may not have to! That’s a win in my book. Try out an “Add Yours” template the next time you come across one, or test out building one yourself. You never know — maybe your template could be the one to spawn a trend across thousands of Instagram users.