Is Instagram Story Viewers List Also Your Biggest Stalker List?

It was back in 2016 when Instagram introduced Stories, its Snapchat-inspired feature that allowed users to post photos/videos that would disappear after 24 hours. It was just a matter of time that Instagram Stories became bigger than Snapchat and also changed the way users interacted with the popular photo-sharing app.

Though the Stories feature was an instant hit, it also prompted a new breed of questions such as the order in which the Story viewers are shown or who's viewing your profile the most. When an Instagram user posts a Story, they can also check which users have seen it.

However, it's still unclear on what basis does Instagram's algorithm decides who shows up where on the list. Instagram refuses to clarify how the algorithm works exactly and likely never will. Well, among users it has been long assumed that the users that show up on top of the list are the people who stalk your profile the most.

Instagram, however, rubbishes these theories. Julian Gutman, product lead for Instagram Home, told The Verge that this isn't how it works - your top Story viewers aren't the ones interacting with your profile the most. "The people that show up on that list are not the people that stalk you the most - it is based on your activity and the people that you are closest to," said Gutman.

This means that visiting someone's profile might be enough to place a viewer on top of your Story viewing list, regardless if you've liked a picture of them or not. The algorithm also takes a user's likes, comments, and direct messages into account and shows content it feels would interest you more.

It doesn't stop there! A user's interaction on the parent app Facebook also plays an important role in deciphering the Story viewers list. Despite the explanation, users still believe that the top viewers of their Story are also their biggest stalkers.

Many users on Reddit did experiments that proved that the top five viewers are the users that interact with the profile the most. Though Instagram claims that users have more control over their top viewers, these experiments show a different "story" altogether.