Instagram is a go-to app for many people. When you're sitting around and wondering what to do with yourself, all you need to do is tap on the colorful camera icon — and you'll keep yourself busy for hours. Seriously, it's so easy (and fun) to fall into an Instagram wormhole. If you were hoping to reign in your constant use of the app, I have some news that might make you want to rethink that decision. Instagram released an awesome new feature to help take your polls to the next level. Here's how to use Instagram's emoji slider to make polling your friends so much fun.
Instagram announced the new feature in a blog post on Thursday, May 10. The emoji slider appears to be a better way to truly know how your Instagram followers feel about a particular question. When you use it, you'll get more information (thanks to the sliding scale) rather than a "yes or no" or "agree or disagree."
It's so simple to add an emoji slider to your Instagram Story, too. First, make sure that your app is updated with the current version of Instagram. Once you've taken a video or photo with the camera on the app, you can pose a question when you add the emoji slider from the sticker tray to your Story. The process is very similar to the OG Instagram poll sticker.
The difference between the original poll sticker and the emoji slider is that rather than choosing two answer options for your poll question, you choose an emoji that best accompanies your question (and ask more "nuanced" questions). Then, your followers can slide the emoji to where they believe they land on the sliding scale. Sounds fun, right?
Not only is it a more interactive way for your followers to participate in polling (the emoji animates as you slide it along the scale!), but you'll also get an answer that is more true to the person answering the question. For example, instead of asking your Instagram peeps if they give pizza a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down," you can ask just how much they crave a gooey, cheesy slice of the stuff (yes, my emoji would be all the way at the right end of the scale).
And when it comes to posing questions, keep in mind that you have your pick from almost any emoji in the library. So, you can use the see-no-evil monkey emoji to gauge how embarrassing that mustard stain on your white shirt really is, or you can use the laughing-crying emoji to see if it's actually just hilarious (and not embarrassing at all). Hey, with cookout season around the corner, spills are bound to happen — so I'm gonna predict that your Instagram besties are gonna tell you to brush it off.
Oh, and if you come across an emoji slider on your BFF's Instagram asking you to rate how delicious her first grilled burger of the season looks, all you need to do is slide the chosen emoji to the left or right (depending how tasty-looking you find it) and release your finger where you want to cast your vote. You'll see a current average of how other burger connoisseurs have voted right there on the emoji slider once you've made your voice heard.
For your own emoji slider polls, the final results are accessible in your Instagram Story, and it will tell you how many people participated in the poll along with the average answer.
All of this talk about food on Instagram reminds me that the company also recently announced another new feature. You can now make restaurant reservations on the Instagram app. Thanks to the app partnering with third-party reservation platforms like OpenTable, Resy, GrubHub, and more, you can click "Reserve" right there on the main page of your favorite restaurant always serving up crave-worthy Instagram posts. I don't know about you, but I am very much here for anything that helps me get to a tasty meal as fast as possible.
BRB, I've got to go make a thumbs-up emoji slider to see how excited everyone else is about new polling methods and making restaurant reservations on Instagram.
