WOW. This is a big change to Instagram, obviously very Snapchat-inspired (see @caseynewton's article).
Instagram has always been about sharing your "best self" with its highly curated feed of filtered photos. Instagram stories is intended to be frequent and less edited, more of a communication tool.
Eager to play around with this later today.
@rrhoover@caseynewton
I'm interested to see how the two communities play out here - like you said Instagram has a lot of 'artier' photos whereas Snapchat was supposed to be off-the-cuff.
Both seem to be muddying those lines
And at what point does everything we consume become a daily vlog?!
@bentossell@rrhoover@caseynewton Then again, Snapchat released Memories, allowing for higher quality content to be published and shared from the Camera Roll. I've already noticed photographers and artists I follow to treat it more like a portfolio.
@olivalcf@jimmydouglas@nivo0o0 Agreed it's a straight copy cat. But are you really surprised? Think about how messaging started to get popular and was instantly integrated in every popular product and designed to look exactly the same.
@olivalcf I believe the naming decision is intentional. It's a marketing strategy used to instill confidence in their customer base in that they know EXACTLY what this new feature is and how it functions. And, frankly, it seems as if those I'm following are very comfortable using Instagram Stories. Interesting move.
@jonathan_laniado@olivalcf I second you on that! Also, the reason to keep same naming conventions is not finding a need to educate the users on what new has been introduced. Its a seamless flow that the users are already accustomed to!
I think Instagram decided to jump on this ship now because users are still figuring out Snapchat and managing their network over there. However, on IG their network is pretty much established so IG could benefit from network effects while they still can. Would love to have @mikeyk tell more about this move.
@phuckiennguyen - totally agree. Audience segments aren't the same as well - Brands on Snapchat are appealing to a younger audience, so Instagram can take the concept and run with it, and reach a broader section of the market.
@webireland I think it boils down to features and in that case Snapchat is still pretty good armed with slick geostickers and filters. However it might just be a matter of time that IG will include those since Facebook acquired MSQRD a while ago. Snapchat is doing fine but this is a neat move by IG.
I think this is a rather smart move from Instagram. Most 24-35 people I know are reluctant to add an additional photo app (Snapchat) to their arsenal, saying they don't need more of the same functionality. This way they'll get introduced to a different way of communicating, which is good.
However, educating their users may result in turning them towards Snapchat later if their stories feature will be inferior.
IG can take a portion of this market but by no means will it dominate/take over this market from Snapchat. The only reason why: Snapchat automatically opens up to the camera tab, making it so quick and easy to capture life's moments. On IG, the camera tab is an extra click away behind IG's interface. And in doing so, they sub-consciously de-prioritize Stories behind IG's main function, the home-feed. IG Stories will gain traction to some extent but by being a whole click away, and throwing it behind IG's already complicated interface, it should just act as a secondary source for IG content that users do not want to post on their primary page.
@chriskarimian I found the interface of Snapchat more complicated than IG's. But I do agree with you that is would be very hard for IG to dominate or take over the market from Snapchat.
@chriskarimian it's a slide away actually. Also, in my opinion, IG is far less complicated than Snapchat which always feels like it is hiding interesting features from its users.
It looks interesting, but the beauty of Instagram pictures is one thing that I love about the service. Why Instagram decide to do this?
I mean, what did they take into consideration to make such a drastic change?
@rui This is happening too frequently now. Twitter was live action, now it's same as Facebook. Instagram was pictures, now it's Snapchat. I think they are all looking for bigger audience (income) and specialized apps —sadly— are not getting there.
Social is so driven by numbers. It leads to an arms race and, honestly, mental exhaustion sometimes. I feel like Instagram not showing those numbers on there will remove some of the network's obsession with them. Hopefully there aren't even any 'view' metrics on there ala Snapcat.
Attempt #23429 of Facebook trying to emulate Snapchat. How about instead of cloning a social network (we saw how that worked out for Google+), you create unique offerings? I'm willing to bet these constant attempts are just Zuckerberg bitter at Spiegel rejecting his takeover offer and taking it personal. Wouldn't put it past him.
"My thesis is a story is a slideshow format, just like when Facebook invented the [News] Feed, and every social product was like, ‘That’s an innovation, how do we adapt that to our network?’ You’re going to see stories pop up in other networks over time, because it’s one of the best ways to show visual information in chronological order." Really interesting comment from Kevin Systrom!
I'm personally a fan of this move by @Instagram, but there is one major oversight.
Now I have a single horizontal bar that shows a story from EVERYONE I'm following. Many of these people, I don't want to see their stories, but still want to follow their polished work. I very much want the ability to opt out of who I follow for stories and keep that space a bit sacred. Discoverability of finding the people I want to see is so so so much scrolling.
The reason I'm a fan is because there is zero discoverability to build a Snapchat audience, making it much harder and slower. The majority of my own is on IG, so I look forward to engaging more deeply with that audience.
As an instagram user I think this will fail and seriously I hope it will. I don't need another "Snapchat" app on my phone. Instagram was supposed to be nice photo sharing community and obviously after Facebook bought it, it turns out to be something completely different.
How this story thing will benefit professional photographers and filmmakers? The only benefit this will have is for the companies that from now on, will spam us with content.
Instagram is focusing on making a snapchat rip-off in their app while they still don't have an official iPad app, like wtf.
The next feature that they will add is going to be LIVE? lol.
Some initial thoughts after playing with Instagram Stories:
- Social graph is already there - you can see stories right away without following anyone new
- Unlike Snapchat, you don't have to follow public accounts to view their stories
- Lots of room for account discovery, which Snapchat is currently lacking
- The camera UI/creation experience is far better on Snapchat. Here's what's missing on Instagram:
* Selfie lenses
* Geofilters
* Bitmoji
* Emoji
* Stickers
* Time selection
* Option to send to specific ppl
- Too many steps to create a story on Instagram, whereas Snapchat opens straight to the camera
- Most of my photos exist solely in Snapchat Memories, so I can't post them to Instagram without saving to camera roll first
Instagram Stories won't replace Snapchat. After the initial hype, it'll mostly be used by brands and public figures. I'm excited to see how it evolves, though - especially the discovery aspect.
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