In terms of the viewing format only. But stories are specifically not blasted out to global. They are follower only, and usually show up as a ring around the profile pic of the relevant friend who has one. They dissappear after 24hrs in most apps making a more temporary and relevant way to check on what your friends have been doing for the day. Instagram and Signal have stories that you can approve only for a specific list of friends. Signal has this as default behavior, Instagram has this as the "close friends" list.

In the Instagram screenshot here, the green circles indicate a "close friends" story (for your eyes only), and the pink circle is a general story posted to all followers