Why 'this or that' prints reshares on Instagram
A 'this or that' card is a chain of forced binaries, and the brain cannot scroll past one. Coffee or tea answers itself in half a second. Beach or mountains answers itself before you finish reading the question. The format works because it stops requiring a caption to hook the viewer - the shape of the post is the hook. Eight pairs is eight micro-decisions, and a reflex you cannot turn off is the most reliable hook on the platform.
The reshare loop is also stronger than tier lists. Where a tier list asks viewers to rank twelve items - which is work - a this-or-that asks them to mark a circle next to the side they would pick. That takes ten seconds for a whole card. Low effort plus 'tag a friend who disagrees' is exactly the friction-to-payoff ratio Stories rewards.
Picking pairs your audience will actually argue with
The best 'this or that' Stories pair things most viewers have already decided in their head but never said out loud. Coffee or tea, dogs or cats, beach or mountains - these are answered before the viewer sees your post, so all you are doing is giving them a reason to share the answer. Niche-but-divisive works too: gold or silver jewelry, marvel or DC, Spotify or Apple Music. Anyone in the audience has an answer.
The worst pairs are the ones that have an objectively correct answer or one almost everyone agrees on. 'Pizza or rotten meat', 'Comfortable shoes or shoes that hurt', 'Saving money or losing money' - nobody shares these because there is no debate. If three people in your group chat would all pick the same side without thinking, swap the pair for something more even.
A useful test: read each pair out loud and check whether at least one of those binaries makes you pause. If every pair is instant, the card is too easy. If every pair takes ten seconds, the card is too hard. A good 'this or that' alternates - five quick pairs to build momentum, two genuinely tricky ones to break the flow.
Should you pre-mark your picks?
The tool lets you mark your own choice on each pair before exporting, but you do not have to. Three patterns work:
- All clean. Every pair is unmarked. The viewer screenshots, marks theirs, and reshares. The most common variant - lowest effort for you, gives the viewer the full canvas.
- All marked. Every pair carries your pick. The viewer screenshots, changes the ones they disagree with, and reshares. Higher engagement because the viewer is correcting you, not filling in a blank.
- Half marked. Mark the controversial pairs ('pineapple on pizza: yes') and leave the safe ones blank. Best of both - viewers see your hot takes and still have something to fill in themselves.
If you cannot decide, start with all marked. The 'argue with the poster' instinct is a stronger reshare driver than the 'fill in the blanks' instinct, and you can always re-export with picks cleared if the marked version looks too opinionated.
How the Story post actually works
Post the PNG as a normal Story from your camera roll, then tap Copy share link for participants above the download button. Paste that URL into an Instagram Link Sticker and drop the sticker over the faded 'Place link sticker here' spot at the bottom of your card - the renderer leaves that gap open on purpose so the sticker slots in without covering a pair. Publish.
When a viewer taps your sticker they land on the same tool with your title, pairs, palette and background pre-filled. Every pick is clean so the viewer can mark their side, download their own 1080 × 1920 PNG, and post it to their Story with a fresh link sticker. The loop is one generator link, many marked-up versions, each pulling more followers into the tool with their own answers.
Do not post a second 'this or that' in the same 24 hours. The format only works with time for marked reshares to come back - five marked-up versions trickling in over a day beats one fresh card buried under three others.
Tier lists vs 'this or that'
Tier lists and 'this or that' both run on the same engagement mechanic: an opinion the viewer has to argue with. Use a tier list when the topic has a natural ordering and more than two stops on the spectrum - 12 pizza toppings, 10 reality TV villains, 15 streaming shows. Use 'this or that' when the topic is binaries or near-binaries
- coffee or tea, gold or silver, beach or mountains. The two formats post well together: a 'this or that' Story on Monday, a tier list on the same theme on Wednesday. Same audience, two different ways to prompt the same conversation.