Instagram Launches A New 'Stay Home' Sticker & ‘Stay Home’ Group Story To Encourage Social Distancing During The Coronavirus pandemic
In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, Instagram has launched a new Stay Home sticker for Instagram Stories to encourage people to stay home and practice social distancing.
The Facebook-owned photo/video sharing platform made the announcement via Twitter.
Today we’re launching a new “Stay Home” sticker that you can find in Stories. If you use the sticker, your photo or video will be added to a shared Instagram story where people can see how you're staying home and staying safe ❤ pic.twitter.com/MtU3d4bKKq
— Instagram (@instagram) March 21, 2020
You can easily use the Stay Home sticker by first taking an Instagram Story and then tapping the Sticker icon at the top right of the screen to pull up the Sticker tray. From there, you can select the Stay Home sticker by tapping it. Like other stickers, you’ll have the option to move it anywhere on your Story and adjust the size of the sticker. Once you’ve decided on the location and size of the sticker, you can post your Instagram Story as you normally would.
Source: Instagram
In addition to the sticker itself, Instagram has created a Stay Home group Story, which compiles all of the Stories that have a Stay Home sticker on them from accounts that you’re following.
Insights & Analysis:
From donations to new features to in-app notifications, platforms are doing everything they can to support the fight against Coronavirus. Instagram’s launch of Stay Home stickers falls directly in line with that as it helps to reinforce the practice of social distancing. While the sticker itself won’t eliminate or slow down Coronavirus, the message behind it can.
According to the experts, the best way to slow down Coronavirus is through social distancing and the easiest way for people to do that is by staying home. The Stay Home sticker supports that in the form of a simple reminder to those who use the sticker themselves as well as those who come across Story content that has the sticker placed on it.
In addition, the sticker capitalizes on our desire to want to be part of a community. By people sharing the things they are doing inside their homes (i.e. watching their favorite movie, doing a puzzle, cooking, playing with their children, working out, etc) and adding the sticker to their Stories, they're helping to create and build a community while indirectly influencing others to stay home as a way to be safe.
In the past, Instagram has rolled out similar cause-initiative stickers such as LGBTQ stickers for Pride Month. While these stickers have primarily been focused on specific causes, it seems like there is the opportunity for Instagram to create similar stickers for future cultural events or key moment-in-times that people tend to post content around.
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SOURCE: Instagram
