The emoji slider

Social media apps are constantly updated to change with evolving technologies, fix bugs, improve user experience and to introduce new features. One of the most recent updates once again, and unsurprisingly, comes from the development labs of Instagram.

We’ve seen a range of new features appearing on recent Instagram updates, including the ability to follow hashtags, the introduction of clickable hashtags and handles in bios and the notorious algorithm change.

Instagram Stories was a game-changing feature first launched in August 2016 and has since become a vital tool for Instagram users to stay in touch with their fans. The Stories feature has become so popular that 300 million daily active users post a Story every day.

The Stories feature itself is a whole world of creative opportunities for users to engage their fans. There are 9 mediums for users to capture a scene or tell a story (normal photo and video capture, live videos, superzoom, rewind, stop motion etc) and hundreds of clever little stickers.

Aside from the introduction of designated location, @mention and #hashtag markers (which I use on pretty much every Story to show friends and family where in London I have been spending too much money on wine slushies), Instagram has also brought us such classics as GIF stickers, polls and a variety of hats. A fun addition to this growing repertoire of Instagram Stories stickers is the emoji slider.

Feeling very emojional

The emoji slider is a supplement to the poll sticker which first appeared in October 2017. While the poll gives you two answer options for a question asked, the emoji slider lets fans choose the extent to which they agree or disagree with a question or statement. A user chooses the emoji they want (the fire emoji is a personal favourite of mine) to mark where their fans drag to and the fans then slide the emoji to their chosen point on the scale.

I ran a small survey on my personal Instagram account to test the newest ray of funshine in Instagram Stories.

The Method

I started off with an alert image to let people know what to expect and why I needed them to participate. I chose the image because it was the first thing I looked at when deciding what to use as an alert image and because who doesn’t love a sleek mouse.

I then snapped a pic of the mouse from a different angle for no real reason. I placed the sticker away from the centre of the image so that it would stand out and decided on a rocket emoji because the emojis enlarge as you slide them along the scale and it looked like a rocket taking off.

I then followed up with a sarcastic poll to see if any of my followers who used the slider thought there is actually no use for the slider.

The Results

All in all, I wasn’t exactly happy with the outcome of my pointless and boring experiment. Out of 65 people who saw the image with the slider, only 13 participated - 52 people were deprived of a cool rocket flying across their screens.

My followers found the new sticker underwhelming, with the average final resting point of the slide sitting noticeably short of the middle of the scale.

My follow-up poll was more promising, as I assumed most people would swipe away from my Stories after the slider. However, 13 followers answered the poll, each confirming that the emoji slider is useless (but subliminally confirming that we all love some pointless fun on Instagram Stories).

Last thoughts

Much like the GIF stickers and novelty hats, emoji sliders are just a bit of fun to give fans a reason to creatively engage with your content. While polls, clickable bio hashtags, location stickers and paid partnership bylines have practical uses and lessons, the emoji slider is a colourful addition to the Stories features with a playful payoff. Oh what will those fun-lovin’ developers come up with next?