Facebook wants to be more like Snapchat, since Snapchat is the new hotness among teens, which advertisers crave the attention of. Nowhere, though, is this more obvious than the newly debuted Instagram feature called “stories.”
It’s hard not to compare Instagram Stories and Snapchat. Instagram’s new feature practically invites it. Both Instagram and Snapchat call their feed “stories.” Both show the last 24 hours of activity in a user’s feed. Both have a camera that let you draw with a pen and write text on images. And after a time limit is up, they’re gone, off into the mist. Snapchat users will probably confuse the two if they’re swapping between them at least once.
There are a few crucial differences. Instagram has fewer tools available to doodle on or otherwise mess with stories at the moment, unlike Snapchat’s silly face filters, although it does have Instagram’s trademark color tints. Instagram users can more easily save their stories simply by swiping up on it and tapping the share button. You also don’t have nearly as many ways to react to a story. You can’t festoon it with stickers or otherwise goof around like on Snapchat, just send text messages. Some of these features are likely being added in fairly short order, or at least until Facebook hears from Snapchat’s legal team.
Speaking of which, it will be curious to see how Snapchat reacts. So far, the company has been silent on Instagram’s changes, but it seems likely they’ll have an opinion one way or the other very soon. So enjoy Instagram’s stories while you can, because they might disappear a lot sooner than in 24 hours.
(Via The Verge)