For three years, posting more than one Instagram Story was practically a death sentence for your views.
That has finally changed.
Instagram’s latest update changed the algorithm to erase the de facto multi-Story penalty. Instagram growth coach Brock Johnson described this update as “massive” in a comment on an announcement reel by Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri.
Johnson also posted a carousel of his own breaking down the update and why it’s such a big deal.
Read on for the full breakdown.
Why Was IG Penalizing Multiple Stories?
On slide #3, Johnson’s post goes on to explain why IG was penalizing multiple-Story posters in the first place:
“According to the Head of Instagram, this was an unintentional algorithm behavior, and it has been ‘fixed.’
“Users will no longer have their views automatically lowered just for posting multiple Stories.”
The post caption goes into more detail:
“Basically, the algorithm uses machine learning to constantly adapt and improve.
“Over time, because people often just tap tap tap through Stories, the algorithm ‘learned’ to downrank Stories with multiple clips. So it wasn’t intended to be that way by the creators of Instagram, but that’s what the algorithm decided.”
Mosseri’s explanatory reel backs this up, saying he learned of the penalty from IG comments and DMs from creators who complained of reduced Story views when they posted more than one Story a day.
In Mosseri’s words:
“That is not at all the intended behavior of Instagram. So, we looked into it, and we figured out what was going on, and we’ve addressed the issue.
“Now, it is still the case that not everyone who taps on your first Story is gonna tap all the way through to your last Story. But no longer will posting more and more Stories in the same day decrease the reach of your Stories overall, particularly that first Story.”
What Really Helps or Hinders Story Engagement?
Now that multiple Story posts per day won’t hurt your views, it’s worth revisiting the metrics that boost Story engagement in 2025. Johnson’s post listed them out in slide #4:
- DMs
- Watch Time
- Profile Visits
- Shares
- Stickers
- Likes
- Rewind (Tap Backs)
As that list wouldn’t be complete without a list of the biggest “View Killers,” Johnson presents the top four in slide #5:
- Low/No Engagement – This one’s self-explanatory. If no one’s engaging with your Story, Instagram is less likely to put it at the top of your followers’ screens.
- Exits – If your viewers are bailing out of your Story altogether, it signals that your content isn’t holding attention. That can push your next Story further down the line.
- Next Story (Swipes) – When someone swipes to skip you and move on to the next account, the algorithm takes it as a sign they’d rather not see more of your content.
- Forward (Taps) – Taps to skip ahead in your Story aren’t as harsh as a full exit, but enough of them tell Instagram your clips aren’t engaging enough to watch all the way through.
Johnson ends his post with a question:
“How many Stories do you think is ‘too many’ per day?”
Commenters were happy to chime in. Here are some of their thoughts:
Use this as a chance to rethink your Story strategy and test what your audience actually wants.
