Redefining the line between social media apps
Instagram recently introduced a Story feature over this past summer. However, the addition has sparked some controversy because of the function’s close similarity to Snapchat’s pre established Story feature. Snapchat’s use of the Story feature, though, is unwarranted and has only left consumers confused and enraged.
According to Instagram’s blog on Tumblr, Instagram Stories are for sharing ordinary moments, not just the ones someone would want to keep for a long period of time on their profile. However, Instagram’s Story feature is only useful for showing photos of the unordinary and important moments of life, which is not what Instagram was created for. Instagram posts are planned out, taking time and effort to edit, filter, and match to the user’s profile theme. This adds to the lack of separatism that a Story feature should have.
On the other hand, people use Snapchat for live moments, snapping quick photos and videos for friends. This is because Snapchat’s Stories only appear for 24 hours, and helps creates a relaxed environment for users to comfortably let their imperfections flow and followers will let the small, human mistakes slide. When Instagram released their stories, the separation of casual and formal ways to share their life was nonexistent and left users dissatisfied.
Instagram Stories are unnecessary because they can’t fill or improve upon the role that Snapchat Story already fill. The only difference between the two is the way Instagram allows users to share their stories for a longer period of time, but again, this is contradictory to the point of Stories. Snapchat is meant for smaller moments, but if someone wanted to share one, they would use Snapchat instead because it’s better fit for the situation. The new Instagram stories broke an unspoken rule and crossed an agreed upon line of which popular apps shouldn’t of crossed.
Even once the Instagram were beginning to be used, they mainly let users advertise their Snapchat username. In terms of public figures and celebrities, Instagram stories give their followers a glimpse of their lives, but it’s nothing that Snapchat already can’t already do. The new stories are rarely used and users will and should continue to stick to Snapchat for their story posting rather than Instagram.
