Instagram’s Highlights feature allows users to permanently display collections of their Stories on their profile. The platform’s functionality regarding viewer information for these Highlights operates differently from standard Stories. With regular Stories, a list of viewers is available to the account holder for a period of 24 hours. However, access to this same viewer information does not extend to Highlights once the initial 24-hour Story period has expired.
The impermanence of the viewer list for Highlights is a significant aspect of user privacy on Instagram. This design choice can encourage users to interact with content without the concern of perpetual tracking. The absence of long-term viewer logs for Highlights distinguishes them from other forms of content on the platform, such as posts and Reels, where engagement metrics are more persistent.