Battle of the Stories
No matter the destination or if there really is none at all, sometimes we like to share what we’re doing with others. With our phones acting as an extension of ourselves, if we lose them we can lose a lot more than just a means of communication, but also the memories we have documented. Let’s dive into where you are sharing your story and what it says about you.
Snapchat
The master of all social media story platforms, Snapchat launched solely based on the human desire to share more of our lives with others. The app also contains features like filters, which are super cute! The filters change day-to-day and can have voice changing effects or just give you cute dog ears! The Snapchat app contains two main features: person-to-person snaps and snap stories. Person-to-person snaps are where you can specifically choose the person or people you’d like to send your 10 seconds picture or video to. Snapchat stories are where you post and all of your followers can see it for 24 hours before it disappears. In 2014, the story feature surpassed the use of person-to-person snaps creating a massive uproar in snapchatting. This app has also managed to be very steady in the use that it gets, so it is consistently successful, even with other social media platforms stealing their style. Snapchat as of 2017 is sitting at 100 million daily users, with 1 millions snap stories added every day. You go, Snapchat!
As soon as Instagram Stories were announced, the automatic “what is this, Snapchat?” controversy was found everywhere. Users weren’t even sure how to use it themselves, with everyone’s Instagram Stories acting as promotions for their own personal Snapchat. While it didn’t take off right away, it sure did take off with brands and users alike shifting to Stories to sell makeup, share a song or just send a message - anything was possible. While Instagram does contain some differences compared to Snapchat, when writing or drawing on a photo or video, you have many more options and tools compared to Snapchat. In stories you can add trackable hashtags as well as tagging people who are in it with you! This is a great feature that allows you to stay on top of trends without having to post a photo to your feed. Did we mention the amount of followers you can reach on Instagram are often far greater than those on Snapchat?
While there is often a lot of repetition in user’s stories on different platforms, Instagram is being used a lot more than many of us expected. Instagram does contain some differences compared to Snapchat, when writing or drawing on a photo or video, you have many more options and tools compared to Snapchat. Mark Zuckerberg really wanted Snapchat and he already owns Instagram so why not try to bring aspects of what you want into what you have, am I right?
This year, Facebook itself joined the party! Facebook has two billion active monthly users (the most on all platforms!) but stories simply haven’t caught on here. Most users continue to use it to connect with family and friends, so people may not want to show everyone their drunk night out on the town. After Facebook offered to buy Snapchat with no success, it has tried to implement many similar features that haven’t worked out well for them, either. Do you think Facebook stories will ever catch on like Instagram Stories did?
We are at a point in time where we don’t keep very much private and we enjoy sharing our life stories for the world to see. At this rate, with all platforms adding a story feature, we’re just about waiting on the edges of our seats to see when Twitter will join in! Let us know how many story features you use and which are your favourite.
Photo Cred: Business Insider, TechCrunch, TechCrunch