Social media has always been a storytelling tool. From blogging to vlogging to live-streaming – all digital content worth sharing. However, in the last few years, stories have taken on a literal meaning on major social media platforms. These story features are found on Snapchat, Instagram, and now even Facebook.
Snapchat first branded “stories” into their application in 2013 – a stream of daily highlights that would disappear to those connected to you after 24 hours. As a younger demographic was already drawn to this app for 1-1 messaging, these users quickly adopted and loved the featured.
Then in September 2015, Snapchat released filters, lenses, and stickers – where you could transform yourself (and then later those around you) into unicorns, a box of cookies or a bright shiny gold face (as seen in my snap to the left that I took at the Emmy’s this fall). This was all made possible with the integration of facial recognition technologies.
Last month Snapchat added even more to stories, where you can explore professionally curated snaps from around the world through a powerful search option. Search by activity, location or events. Click on the search icon at the top of the app for a whole new world. This feature may even be a way for your stories to have a deeper reach.
Even though there is a surging stock price for Snapchat, there is a bigger reason for Snapchat to keep its’ users coming back. Competition. Instagram and Facebook saw (stole) the power of stories and integrated them into their platforms.
In August 2016 Instagram launched their version of “stories” – found at the top of the app. The daily views are surging – with 150 million people using stories. Some sources say that Snapchat is feeling the burn with counts decreasing from 15-40% for some users. Instagram also recently added private stories – where users can share particular story posts only to certain users.
And then came Facebook stories. Kaboom! The social media story overload.
At this point, many laughed (including me) at just how on the nose FB was at stealing the stories featured from Snapchat – just as Instagram had.
Are these story functions adding to your social experience or overloading your feed? Are you uploading or ignoring the features?
From my observations, the posts on Facebook stories are few, and one can only see the feature on mobile. Currently out of my 1400 friends, only one person has a Facebook story.
What applications are you drawn to for stories? While I miss the Snapchat faces and filters, I’ve been enjoying stories on Instagram a bit more lately. Find one of my Instagram stories at the bottom of this post. You can find on both Snapchat (found left) and Instagram @JosieAhlquist.
We desire stories – fueled by the hope of being in community with others. This is why social media is so popular, no matter where you upload your story. I suggest, pick the platform(s) that work for your personality and the people you want to be in community with.
Your story has so many places to be shared on online,
know your options and let all of you shine – and just on one app is totally fine.
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