[System Design Tech Case Study Pulse #31] 500+ Million Users Daily : How Instagram Stories Actually Work

Tech you must know....with flowchart and explanations how it works..

Hi All,

Instagram Stories is a tech marvel, capable of delivering ephemeral content to 500 million daily active users in real-time.

This system forms the backbone of one of Instagram's most popular features, enabling users to share and consume short-lived photos and videos seamlessly.

Let's dive deep into how this system works, following the journey of a Story from creation to viewer consumption, and exploring the impressive metrics behind each step . 

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System Overview 

Before we begin our journey, let's look at some key overall metrics of Instagram Stories: 

- Daily active users: 500 million 

- Stories created daily: Over 1 billion 

- Peak creation rate: Over 100,000 Stories per second 

- Average Story view time: < 1 second 

- Content types: Photos, videos, boomerangs, live streams 

- Maximum Story duration: 15 seconds per segment 

- Story lifetime: 24 hours 

- Global reach: Available in 150+ countries 

- Supported devices: iOS, Android, Web 

- System availability: 99.99% uptime achieved in 2023 

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Now, let me walk through the Story creation and consumption process and see how these numbers translate to real-world performance. 

How things Work —

1. Story Creation and Upload 

The journey begins when a user creates a new Story: