Instagram on Tuesday announced a feature called Stories -- which will look very familiar to anyone who uses Snapchat.
Instagram
Stories, as revealed in a company blog post, will let users string
together multiple shots or videos into a single video that can be shared
with friends. Users can type or draw on the images. And, after 24
hours, the videos disappear.
Friends on Instagram will know when
you've got a new story when they see a colored ring appear around your
profile picture. Users can browse through the stories of friends,
celebrities and brands they follow. Viewers tap to move through a single
story and swipe to jump between stories.
Instagram's new feature
is very similar to Snapchat's Story feature, but it's not clear whether
users will be able to save their Stories as they can on Snapchat.
Instagram Stories will be rolling out to users in "the next few weeks" on iOS and Android.
This
sort of copying follows the usual style of Instagram's parent company,
Facebook - particularly when it comes to Snapchat. Ever since Snapchat
came onto the scene, Facebook's been trying to buy it or incorporate
some of its more successful features into its own product. Facebook
tried to make its own ephemeral messaging service in the past, for one,
back in 2012. And its acquisition of the photo filter company MSQRD this
spring was seen as a direct move against Snapchat.
In an
interview with the New York Times, Instagram chief executive Kevin
Systrom openly acknowledges that "other companies deserve all the
credit" for coming up with the idea of ephemeral messaging, though he
doesn't mention Snapchat by name.
That said, adding a Stories
feature makes sense for Instagram, which has its own growth goals in
mind. Instagram and Snapchat reach a younger demographic than Facebook
does, and have become important advertising platforms for brands trying
to reach millennials and Generation Z.
With Stories, Instagram
seems to be trying to keep engagement high among its younger users, who
often use it as a tool to cultivate a very particular image to the
outside world. Teens in particular often delete posts that don't fit
that image - and can also keep users from posting in the first place.
That's not great for Instagram, and this behavior encourages the idea
that Snapchat is the place where users can be themselves without the
same kind of pressure.
Adding in content that disappears can help
Instagram tackle that problem. A telling line from the company's blog
post is: "With Instagram Stories, you don't have to worry about
overposting. Instead, you can share as much as you want throughout the
day - with as much creativity as you want." Later in the post, there's
another line that reinforces this point: "Instagram has always been a
place to share the moments you want to remember. Now you can share your
highlights and everything in between, too."
Stories follow the
same privacy settings as other posts on Instagram, so users can choose
to make them public or not. Users also will be able to selectively block
stories from particular users -- even from followers. Instagram also
will provide users with detailed viewing information, saying users can
"swipe up to check out who's seen each photo and video."
But users
can't like or comment on Stories. Any feedback given will have to go
through direct messages, making Stories an even more private feature.
© 2016 The Washington Post
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