Instagram stories | IG just released its new story feature at the beginning of August. It works similar to Snapchat, in that your post stays up for 24 hours and then disappears. The feature is complete with filters and editing abilities. But why? On the surface it seems a little copycat-ish of Instagram, but let’s take a deeper look.
Snapchat prides itself on being everything social media is not. Social media platforms (including Instagram) have been all about appearances – making everything look and sound picture perfect. That’s why Snapchat has been successful because it allows for less formal posts that millennials eat up. People only post the best on their Instagram, so this new feature may allow for users to ease up a bit and may broaden IG’s audience.
What I like about Instagram stories versus Snapchat…
…is that you can use all the classic Instagram filters, as opposed to Snapchat’s few different ones. Also on Instagram, you have the option of changing the brush size to annotate the picture, so your drawing doesn’t have to look like a two-year-old’s artwork. Another cool benefit is that you can choose who you don’t want to see your story.
The feature just released, but Snapchat still has some hold over Instagram. Snapchat still claims the cool geo-filters, which we could talk about in a whole other blog post. Also, Instagram doesn’t allow you to send “snaps” to one person (I guess they have direct messaging for that). Its design is more of “hey, look at what I’m doing right now that’s not quite important enough to post on my actual feed, but is still cool nonetheless.”
It’s also worth mentioning…
…that Snapchat has started allowing companies to post daily stories about news, gossip, fashion, or food which give it another dimension, and there are also advertisements popping up to support this new advancement. Snapchat is quickly evolving into an information source, one I don’t think anyone saw coming. Instagram’s feature is just allowing people and brands to give more personal insights into their daily lives. There has been some resistance mixed with surprise at the appearance of this feature, but I think as time goes on, it will bring more and more people in, because who doesn’t love to talk about themselves?
