In an attempt to dethrone Snapchat’s spot as a favorite among young audiences, Facebook-owned Instagram has implemented a Stories page, just like the one in Snapchat.
It works just like its counterpart. The user can send photos and videos to a particular set of followers, while also being able to add stickers and drawings to the images. Also, the photos and videos received on the Stories page are visible for 24 hours before finally disappearing.
A competition between social media giants
Facebook has been trying to neutralize Snapchat for the last three years. First through a $3 billion offer, and then trying to mimic the app through unsuccessful attempts, such as Slingshot and Poke. Slingshot forced users to send video back to see what your friend had sent, while poke allowed users to send messages, pokes besides photo and video. Users also had to use their Facebook username in Poke, which made them dependent on their friend list for contacts. Another difference is that Poke acts by Facebook’s terms of service, while Snapchat photos get deleted after their time elapses.
Whenever you remove content from Facebook, there is no guarantee that every copy of the file gets removed at the same time. Facebook has responded to the critique by claiming that Instagram Stories messages will be encrypted and become deleted after two days, which allows the system to have a ‘Report Abuse’ function.
Snapchat Stories generates at least 10 billion daily video views. It is also known that more people use Snapchat than Twitter every day, which might reveal why Facebook has tried so hard in either copying the app or acquiring it. On the other hand, Facebook receives over 1 billion daily views while Instagram receives 300 million.
Snapchat is not backing down
Snapchat has gained momentum with its Stories feature, as it can join several photos and videos of events where many users participate. Instagram has become concerned, as analysts believe that Snapchat could hinder Instagram’s development as a leading image-based social network.
One of the factors contributing towards Snapchat’s success is that its users actively send and receive photos and video from their followers. The average Snapchat user can create content much more efficiently, thus increasing traffic and minutes of app usage.
Instagram relies on photo quality for users to interact with each other, and the implementation of paid posts and advertising has not acted for the Facebook-owned media giant. Instagram executives acknowledged that the Stories feature has already been present in other apps. They assert that what matters is the direction the company takes from that point onward.
Instagram changed its feed algorithm on 2016 Q1, and now it highlights photos and videos that the algorithm determines are attractive to the user. It differs from the chronological order that the feed had since it was released to the public. But even by changing the algorithm, Instagram has not been able to match Snapchat’s dynamic interactivity. Perhaps through the implementation of Instagram Stories, the company will be able to slow down the growth of its competitor, although Snapchat does not seem eager to relinquish its 10 billion daily views.
Source: NY Times