Instagram introduced a beautiful feature called Instagram stories long back through which users can share their feelings, experiences from their daily life with their audiences. While posting the story on Instagram platform creators have the option to tag other users by mentioning their usernames in the story for better reach.
But they disappear after 24 hours of posting. So if any of the users open the story posted by creators, they will not see any usernames or mentions. But the reader may be surprised and search for whom it shared with. They may look for hidden mentions in the Instagram story. So many of the users may not be aware about how to see hidden mentions on Instagram stories.
This article explains the basic understanding of hidden mentions in the Instagram story and the significance of its uses. How it helps to highlight the story without losing its user engagement.
Table of Contents
What is Mention Feature On Instagram Story & Basics
Hidden mentions are invisible to both sender and receiver meaning they are covered to the creator, to whom they have tagged and followers. But you may question how to see hidden mentions on Instagram if you have created a story and used hidden mentions.
As its name suggests, mention on Instagram story means mentioning or tagging some one’s account in the Instagram story.
Mention features on Instagram, especially in Instagram stories have been used to enhance user experience with the platform and increase the user reach with the audience.
When we mention someone in the story with their account name, that user gets notification immediately. So that user can engage with the post and chances to share with other users leading to getting more likes, shares, subscribers and more views.
Mentions greatly increase your customer base when reshares happen. Resharing with a broader audience may bring new followers and increase the content consumption.
Subsequently mentions are helpful to build brand partnerships, increase brand name, collaborate with brands to promote their products.
What is Hidden Mention Feature On Instagram Story & Basics
Hidden mentions on Instagram stories is a kind of privacy feature which allows the user to tag other accounts without displaying their username in text form publicly in the story. To do that users can select the @mentions icon to write the other user’s account and drag it down from the visible screen area. So that tagged users will get the notification and their name will be hidden in the story.
Hidden mention feature is a great addition to the Instagram platform.They can significantly help users in interacting with a wide range of users, increasing the content engagement, reaching like minded users quickly.
It also helps in situations where you want to tag someone who you want to make engage with your story or draw attention to your content, if that individual may share your content in their circles to increase your reach once he likes your story or he may want to associate or collaborate with you in content creation to grow the business. So it helps both parties in marketing the content.
Is It Possible To View Instagram Hidden Mentions?
Whether we can see hidden mentions or not largely depends on the Instagram account privacy settings. If your Instagram account is set to private, then only your followers are able to mention you in their stories and posts. If your account is public, then anyone can mention you in their stories unless mention settings are set to “No One” or “Only People You Follow”.
How To See Hidden Mentions On Instagram Story
Instagram platform only supports notifications when someone mentioned you in their stories. But when you ask for how to see hidden mentions on Instagram story then there are few third party tools or apps which can manage mentions. However these third party tools should comply with Instagram terms and conditions.
If you install third party apps from untrusted sources, which allow you to see hidden mentions but your account may be at risk. Your instagram account information may be stolen. So it is recommended not to get tempted by such third party apps which have the feature of showing hidden mentions.
Popular third party apps such as Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Mention which not only provide hidden mentions but also other information like analytics, viewership, content engagement growth etc.
How To Hide Mentions In Instagram Stories
Move the mention sticker from the visible area
- Make a story and include your friend.
- Take hold of the sticker and drag it out from the screen.
Use Other Elements To Cover The Mention Sticker:
- Make a story on Instagram and mention your friend in it
- Cover the mentioned sticker with a new sticker or picture
For What Reason Do Users Of Instagram Use Hidden Mentions?
Wider Reach: If you mention other users using a hidden feature, your content will be shared with them along with others. They also engage with your content but their account name is not visible to the public. It makes them want to share your story with others since you respect their privacy.
For appealing reasons: Few users want to make appealing stories to attract more users and followers. If they publicly mention the other users in the story, the look and feel of the Instagram story interface may compromise and lose the visual appeal and concept of story may get diluted. So hidden mentions help declutter the tags.
Privacy Reasons: Few users require privacy when someone mentions them in their stories. Since they don’t want their account name to be shared in the public while they consume the content. They don’t want to let other users know their preferences and interests of specific content.
Highlight the Content: Content is the priority and visual appeal is the key in instagram story telling. If you mention the users without using the hidden mention feature, audience focus will come down and display of usernames will take away the readers focus. So hidden mentions always come in handy and do not interrupt the flow of storytelling.
Managed Tag Distribution: If you can manage the tag distribution in the story, it will not disturb the audience. Hidden mentions play a significant role in these situations. Strategic tag placement and visibility enhance the visual appeal of the story. Tag placement should not overpower the story telling.
Enhanced Engagement: Mentions create a sense of community by encouraging user interaction, direct contact, and connections between people and brands.
Content Sharing : One of the most important aspects of social media is content sharing. Hidden mentions making it easy for users to discover and share fresh content by mentioning other people’s postings on social media platforms by leaving a remark on their story.
Hidden mentions on Instagram stories are an important feature and add value to the content by hiding the display of usernames. Leading users to spend more time on the story rather than spending time on who were mentioned in the post.
Reasons For No Notifications Received For Hidden Mentions
Hidden mentions allow the usernames to be hidden in the story when someone mentions their name and posted the story. Usually tagged members get notification immediately, but sometimes due to some reasons they may not get notifications. Will discuss those reasons below.
Privacy Settings : You might not be notified until you accept a follow request from someone who doesn’t follow you if your account is set to private and they mention you in their story.
Turn Off Notifications: It’s possible that you have disabled notifications when stories mention you. In this scenario, you won’t receive a notification even if you are mentioned.
Technical Glitches: Technical problems or bugs may occasionally occur on Instagram, preventing mentions or notifications from appearing as intended.
Content Restrictions: Instagram features some filters as well as content filtering. The mention could not appear if the story’s content violates Instagram’s policies or is reported as improper.
FAQ : How To See Hidden Mentions On Instagram Story
Q: What does hidden mean Instagram story?
A: You can choose to hide your story and stop further additions if you don’t want someone to view it.
Q: How To See Hidden Mentions On Instagram Story?
A: There are third party apps which allows to see hidden mentions on Instagram story. Direct feature is not available in latest versions of Instagram app.
Q: How do you hide mentioned posts on Instagram?
A: To access your profile, tap on the picture of your profile located at the bottom right.
Click in the Top right and then click on Activity
Select by tapping Tags first.
After choosing which posts to remove from your profile, select Hide at the bottom.
To be sure, tap Hide once again.
Q: Can you remove mentions on Instagram story?
A: It is not possible to remove your username if someone mentions you in their Instagram story.
Q: Can you block mentions on Instagram?
A: Yes. It is manageable. You can choose the users that can mention or tag you in Instagram.
Q: Can you see if a private account tags you in their story?
A: When you mention someone in your story, they will get notification but they won’t be able to see your story unless they follow you. Private account stories are only visible to approved followers.
Q: Will You Be Able To See Someone Else’s Instagram Story If You Hide Yours?
Even if you hide your Instagram story from someone, you may still see theirs. At the top of their home page will be their story. Unless someone tells them and they try to view it, they won’t be aware that you’ve hidden it.
Conclusion: How To See Hidden Mentions On Instagram Story
Hidden mentions in the Instagram stories rightly balance the visual appeal with user engagement. Hidden mentions still allow integration of tags with storytelling without disturbing the look and feel. This feature allows creators to narrate their story with hidden mentions, so creators share the content by respecting the privacy of tagged users.
Hidden mentions is the feature that helps in associating with different brands, individuals to share their products among themselves to understand each other’s products. So that they share other partner’s products with their followers to increase the sales.
Hidden mentions helps new creators to share their content by mentioning other users in the story. It increases his profile reach to new audiences, increased viewership and more content engagement.
This article tried to put all the features, advantages, significance, reasons using hidden mentions in the Instagram stories in detailed way and how to use it and how to see hidden mentions in the Instagram story also mentioned about third party tools to use to see hidden mentions.