Instagram Stories has grown considerably since last year’s launch. Over 200 million people now use Stories every day to keep up with friends and accounts they love creatively. We’re also introducing new sticker tools that help Instagrammers be even more creative, whether they’re sharing to a story or having conversations with friends in Direct.

Businesses of all sizes around the world have been using stories to share their behind-the-scenes moments, daily happenings and personalities. Businesses like Akbank.

One of Turkey’s largest banks, Akbank ran a two-week advertising campaign in Instagram Stories to deliver their core message in a cheerful way while aiming to increase both brand loyalty and attitudinal equity. At the end of their campaign, they saw a 28-point lift in advert recall and 5-point lift in message association.

We’ve also introduced new sticker tools. Turn a selfie into a sticker that you can use throughout your story, put your selfie sticker anywhere, adjust the size and use as many other creative tools as you want. You can also pin a selfie sticker – as well as any other sticker or text – to a specific spot in a video.

If you live in, or are travelling to, Chicago, London, Madrid or Tokyo, you may start seeing geostickers for your city over the coming days. All geostickers have been designed by local community members to help bring the cities they call home to life.

We’re also rolling out a shortcut to get to your favourite stickers. Just tap the smiley face and swipe right to see your recently used stickers. And finally, when you record video using ‘Hands-free’ mode, tap and hold the button to see a timer that counts down to when the video begins.

Instagram’s always been a passionate community where people and businesses connect. And now, with our new sticker tools and hundreds of millions of people using Stories, there are even more ways for businesses to turn their most casual, everyday moments into something fun to share.