While using Instagram, most of us discover many different tools and features. Most features we come across on Instagram might be confusing. Instagram Insights is also a feature that helps creators on Instagram know about how their viewers have been interacting with their content. Navigation is a feature under Instagram insights that most users are confused with. We all might have seen navigation on Instagram and got confused with different metrics. This article will discuss what navigation means on Instagram stories and its various metrics.
Navigation in Instagram Stories
Navigation in Instagram stories is a helpful feature that helps you understand the behavior of your followers after viewing your Instagram stories. It tracks the back taps, forward taps, next story, and exit story of the story viewers. The feature helps you know how your users have perceived your story and give a basic idea of their activity.
The navigation in Instagram Stories contains four metrics: Back Taps, Forward Taps, Next Story, and Exit Story.
Back Taps
Back Tap means how many people have tapped on the left side of your story to view your previous story. It generally is considered a good thing as people are rewatching your story. There might be various reasons people might want to rewatch your story. They might have missed something and want to watch it again or for other reasons. Sometimes when you have no previous story, they might have also tapped back to view another person’s story. Every time someone back taps in the Instagram story, they will be taken back to the previous story.
Forward Taps
Like Back Taps, Forward taps are when someone taps on the right side of the screen to go to the next story. If they tap on the right side, they will be taken to your next story. It can be understood as the viewer has swiped your one Instagram story to skip to your other story.
There might be various reasons for someone to forward tap, including your story is boring, they might want to skip to your next story, or maybe for some other reason.
Next Story
Next Story is another metric under the Navigation in an Instagram story. It means someone has swiped the right to view another person’s story. Although it might sound the same, there is a difference between forwarding taps and the next story. Forward taps were when someone tapped to skip to your other story. Whereas, Next story is when someone skips all your stories to watch another person’s story. Next Story is not considered a good metric as someone skips all your stories without viewing them.
Exit Story
Exit Story in navigation means that someone has exited from your story. Unlike the Next story, the viewer has exited from not just your story but has stopped watching Instagram stories. Exit stories might or might not be related to your story. They might have exited to stop using Instagram or message someone for other reasons that might or might not have been linked to you. Since the exit story is not primarily dependent on your story, this is not necessarily a metric for your performance indicator.
Additional FAQs
What does Impression mean on Instagram stories?
Impression on stories means how often your story has been shown to other viewers. Most of the time, Impressions and views are confused with each other. Views on your Story mean how many people have viewed your story. Whereas, Impression means how many times different people have watched your story. If 20 people have watched your story over 50 times, Insights will show 20 views and 50 impressions.
Is navigation available on a Private account?
Navigation on Instagram is only available on Business and professional accounts. Private or other personal accounts can only see how many people have viewed their story and nothing much. On Instagram posts as well, personal accounts only can see the likes and comments in their post and don’t have access to other analytical tools. If you want to access navigation, you can do it by switching to a professional account, and after it, every post and story will have Instagram insights.
How can I see insights for my Instagram account?
First, you should have professional and business accounts to view insights. To view Instagram story insights, open the story and swipe up to view the insight of a particular story. To view overall insights related to your profile, tap the insights button or access insights from the three horizontal lines icon at the top right. On the insights page, tap the metrics to have a detailed breakdown of the insights.
Does Instagram Insights show who views your profile?
No, you can’t see who viewed your profile through your Instagram story. Instagram only shows who viewed your story and who liked your posts which is available to everyone. Besides, it won’t show who viewed your profile, saved your posts, or forwarded your stories. You will just have several how many people viewed your profile or how many of them interacted with your post or stories.
Can I see Story Insights even after 24 hours?
Since all the stories expire after 24 hours, we might wonder if insights are available after 24 hours. Insights on Instagram stories are available up to seven days after the Story was created. Although you can’t see insights forever on Stories as you would on an Instagram post, they are still available for seven days instead of just 24 hours.
