Feel awkward unfollowing that Instagrammer? Just click 'mute'

Instagram has announced that it is rolling out a new ability to secretly 'mute' annoying accounts - for both posts and stories. Here's how it's done...

Instagram is finally letting users block stories and posts from Instagrammers that they may find annoying. To put it kindly, users can ‘personalise their feed;' in other words, they can ‘mute' people they follow without anyone knowing.

Most social media users have at some point or another ‘followed' or ‘friended' someone and later regretted it, whether it's because they've lost contact, added the account out of politeness, have lost interest in the subject matter or because the posts have simply become irritating. However it can be downright awkward to ‘unfollow' an individual, especially if it's a colleague or someone that'll be at that wedding.

Opening your Instagram app already to get going on some muting? Well, the bad news is that this new feature isn't available just yet, however an announcement from the company claims it'll be rolled out over the coming weeks.

Update your app regularly and keep an eye out for it; once this new feature reaches your smartphone, here's how it'll work:

Tap the menu button placed in the top right corner, the one that looks like ‘...' and select from either mute posts, or mute posts and stories from an account. Other options include pressing and holding a user's story until the choices pop up, or going to someone's profile.

This is one way that Instagram aims to “make feed the best place to share and connect with the people and interests you care about.”