Instagram & Snapchat — The war of the stories

Uncomfortable with the new Instagram Stories feature? You’re not alone.

Instagram stories has come alive and while we loathe blatant leeching of every feature from Snapchat, we’re starting to see the sense in what Zuckerberg and co. are intent on.

Here’s what we think is going on.

Instagram has started to look like each of us now.

Lifetimes we want to fill with classic memories, and with moments that make us look fun and spontaneous enough to be invited for a fun night out. We’re looking to look good. We’re acting to be remembered for our quirks. And Instagram has figured that out.

Which explains Instagram Stories.

Stories?

Snapchat aced this — nuggets of information best shared to the current social media-savvy generation. An attention span of a fruit fly/140 characters/10 seconds is all we have, and all stories will take up. And most of us users have already started to adapt our language to suit that span — be in trending topics, shorter movies, or even listicles that tell you just how much you’ll need to read before you’re done.

The advantage Snapchat had was being able to send your stories to only a select audience. Instagram Stories only lets you select who cannot see the story, that too after it’s published. But we’re guessing, just like Instagram Direct, we’ll soon see a solution to that.

The popularity is growing. We can tell — most of us haven’t scrolled beyond the stories section since the time we got the upgrade on the Instagram app. This is 24 hours since the feature was released.

Stories by brands?

We think they’ll be amazing. Just like you have the discover tabs on Snapchat, imagine all your visual communication in one place. Good looking stuff, and the spontaneous. With direct messages for accounts that are public, bridging the followers-to-friends gap doesn’t seem too far off. Honestly? Nothing that Snapchat features seems too far off. Except one thing.

Snapchat’s face mapping feature is a 50 million patented one. That’s what shot it to fame in the first place. But to counter that, most brands on social media, unless they’re featuring a celebrity, won’t see the need for this on a brand communication level. For the face-focused ones, there’s always the newsfeed.

Stories by brands in India?

Snapchat didn’t quite start this battle at all to win it, did it? Slow consumption rate, a general confusion regarding the platform and the need to look good have made us stay elusive from opening up to the silly side that Snapchat demands. The result? Low to no following on Snapchat. Most brands haven’t so much as started their accounts on Snapchat. The ones that have, aren’t really putting their promotion budgets where their mouth is.

As against Instagram. Where brands from fashion to photography to travel to people can be advertised, resulting in followers who look forward to your aesthetic and content. In this milieu if we were to narrate a behind-the-scenes story, why wouldn’t you watch it? It’s a platform you know and trust — and we already have the people we need listening there. No need for additional investment to get to the same number on Snapchat.

Is this the end for Snapchat?

Snapchat, you may have to take a breather for a bit. But we won’t forget you, or abandon you. Not as long as barfing rainbows, or floral tiaras are still cool. Not as long as raw, real-time stories want to be taken less seriously than studio shots. Not as long as you gently modify our faces to make our eyes bigger in selfies.

On a serious note, for core Snapchat users, the app will remain personal. The groups and cliques that existing users have will stay private, and Snapchat will remain the app you go to, to see your friends up to less memorable moments in their own lives.

But Instagram being the aesthetic driven platform it is, with Stories will grow as the place to interact with brands and with friends. The personal may not be there so much, but that’s with only now. The frequency at which Facebook changes its features, we can be certain that Instagram has more to develop in the near future — emojis, video filters etc.

For stealing the limelight and top-of-mind awareness though, Instagram Stories just won its load of points.