Instagram has announced two significant updates to Instagram Stories that will allow users to share stories via Direct and helps brands to create original content for Ads in Stories.

The first update will allow users to share stories via Direct, which will make sharing a story as easy as sharing a post from your feed.

When users discover a story they want to share, all they need to do is tap the direct icon in the bottom right corner, select a friend or group to share it with and tap send.

If someone shares a story, users will see it in their Direct inbox. Once the original story disappears from the app, it will no longer be available in a user’s message thread.

The second update is to do with Instagram’s Ads in Stories feature, which will make it easier for brands to creatively create content on the platform.

The new capabilities include a Stories uploading tool, which allows businesses to upload organic stories into Ads Manager.

The uploading tool enables businesses to import organic stories into Ads Manager. This will mean they can use select stickers, face filters, geofilters, boomerangs and drawing tools in ads

There will also now be worldwide availability of the Canvas tool in Stories, and an integration of PO will give brands the ability to run a campaign that includes Instagram Stories across the Facebook feed and Instagram feed.