Instagram Launches ‘Stories’, Insta CEO Admits Snapchat Deserves All The Credit

By ERIN MARY Doyle

Instagram has launched a new feature called ‘Instagram Stories’ giving users the ability to collate photos and videos into a ‘story’ which will disappear after 24 hours and are easy to share and hide from whoever they. Sound familiar? That’s because Snapchat has exactly the same feature called ‘Snapchat Stories’.

Like Snapchat, the ‘new’ feature on Instagram limits videos to 10 seconds, lets users draw or add stickers to shared photos and videos. Also the name is exactly the same, a minor detail that social media is dragging Instagram for:

IM ACTUALLY CRYING XD THIS UPDATE THOUGH

A photo posted by wERE bROKEN pEOPLE (@allisonistrashh) on Aug 2, 2016 at 6:06pm PDT

You’re killing Snapchat George!!!!! (?: costanzagrams)

A video posted by George Louis Costanza (@costanzagrams) on Aug 2, 2016 at 12:46pm PDT

Has everybody seen the new Instagram logo though…. ??☕️#InstagramStories pic.twitter.com/jQMvCIKavH

— Jaehross (@jaehross) August 2, 2016

Say what you will, @instagram stories just slayed @Snapchat for me. ?? #InstagramStories pic.twitter.com/REHfOQybQL

— MADELINE (@madelinefuhrman) August 3, 2016

#InstagramStories #RIPSnapChat
*Do you know snapchat*
Instagram: pic.twitter.com/uz96mZNCAm

— KīīNG M (@KiingMontel) August 3, 2016

When @snapchat found out about @instagram‘s #InstagramStories feature. pic.twitter.com/l6fYKmJ5Pf

— Julian Dion (@JulianDionG) August 2, 2016

Instagram doesn’t seem too concerned that people are calling them out for the copycat. TechCruch interviewed Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom who said that yes, Snapchat deserves all the credit for the feature.

“When you are an innovator, that’s awesome. Just like Instagram deserves all the credit for bringing filters to the forefront. This isn’t about who invented something. This is about a format, and how you take it to a network and put your own spin on it.

“Facebook invented feed, LinkedIn took on feed, Twitter took on feed, Instagram took on feed, and they all feel very different now and they serve very different purposes. But no one looks down at someone for adopting something that is so obviously great for presenting a certain type of information.

“And I think what you see is that every company looks around and adopts the best of the best formats or state-of-the-art technology.”

Instagram product VP Kevin Weil told Recode it’s all similar to the way hashtags started on Twitter and then spread to other social media platforms.

“When people first started using a hashtag outside of Twitter, it was a big deal,” Weil said. “It’s become universal as a result. I think ‘the story’ is a fantastic format for sharing in the moment and giving people a picture of your daily life, and I think a lot of apps are going to adopt it.”

FULL RELEASE:

Today, we’re introducing Instagram Stories, a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear together in a slideshow format: your story.

With Instagram Stories, you don’t have to worry about overposting. Instead, you can share as much as you want throughout the day — with as much creativity as you want. You can bring your story to life in new ways with text and drawing tools. The photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile grid or in feed.

You’ll see stories from people you follow in a bar at the top of your feed — from your best friends to your favorite popular accounts. When there’s something new to see, their profile photo will have a colorful ring around it.

To view someone’s story, just tap on their profile photo. It’s easy to view stories at your own pace: tap to go back and forward or swipe to jump to another person’s story. If you want to comment on something you see, you can tap and send a private message to that person on Instagram Direct. Unlike regular posts, there are no likes or public comments.

Your story follows the privacy settings of your account. If you set your account to private, your story is visible only to your followers. However, you can also easily hide your entire story from anyone you don’t want to see it, even if they follow you. When watching your own story, swipe up to check out who’s seen each photo and video. You can even choose to feature a particular part of your story by posting it on your profile.

Instagram has always been a place to share the moments you want to remember. Now you can share your highlights and everything in between, too. Instagram Stories will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on iOS and Android. To learn more, check out the Help Center.