Five Reasons Why Instagram Stories Is A Great Idea
My first reaction to Instagram releasing their Stories feature was "oh god, why?" but the more I thought about it, the more I think it is a genius play on their part.
1 // No need to build a following on another app
Most likely you already have a larger following on Instagram than you do on Snapchat. Unless you are constantly promoting your Snapchat, it can be hard to build a following there. You already have a built-in following on Instagram. Of course, it just launched so everyone is checking out everyone else's stories but I got more views on my story in one hour than I have in a day on Snapchat.
2 // It's like old school Snapchat
I don't know about you but I'm a little tired of seeing people staring at themselves with the dog filter for five snaps straight. If Instagram can resist from adding all the emojis and filters, it will be like the old Snapchat where people actually said something instead of staring at themselves (calling myself out on this one. #GuiltyAsCharged).
3 // No need to direct people to another app
Have you ever posted a photo from whatever you were doing and said: "go over to my Snapchat and watch what else happened!". If that person doesn't already follow you, it can be a process to go follow someone. Snapchat themselves said they made it difficult on purpose. It would be great for me to post a behind the scenes photo from a shoot and the caption could lead people to watch it on my Instagram Story right in the same app. They're more likely to follow through.
4 // There is still a place for Snapchat
I love Snapchat because it's the place for people to be real where Instagram is heavily curated material. Instagram stories can be a great companion piece for people who only want to use it along with a photo they post. Say a food blogger goes through the steps of making a dish on IG Stories and then they post a photo of the completed dish with a caption that says "Check out how to make this over on my Story!". But say that food blogger also loves to go to yard sales on the weekends and wants to show their weird stuff she finds. It may not fit in with her IG following but she is totally comfortable sharing it on Snapchat. You pick and choose what you want to share where.
5 // There is a better user experience in Instagram Stories
You can actually go back in Instagram stories if you missed something by pressing the left side of the screen. In Snapchat you would have to leave the story, scroll down to the bottom and start that person's story over to see what you missed. You can also pause the story by holding down the middle of the screen if you want to read something on the screen without having to screenshot it. You can't do that on Snapchat.
In the end, we have to see how people take on to it. When Instagram launched videos in the app to compete with Vine everyone hated it. Now it's one of the biggest features of the app. I think there is still a place for Snapchat and its popularity will definitely not disappear overnight. People need to remember that apps need to constantly be innovating to stay relevant. This is a very interesting move on Instagram's part and I am excited to see how it turns out.
