
Introducing Instagram Stories - ipostonthisacc
http://blog.instagram.com/
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dharmon
Since this is clearly a direct shot at Snapchat, I can't help but wonder if
they would have been better off just making a new app rather than integrating
into Instagram.

I think the kiddos like Snapchat partially because it's _not_ FB, or
Instagram. I think especially you'll lose them once they have to start
thinking about who's seeing what.

Nevertheless, I imagine non-tween Instagram users will enjoy this addition.
Personally, I like the idea of ephemeral photos. For some reason I have some
stupid mental block to sending pics, even though I know its easy to delete
them from my album.

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dtien
I disagree, I think integrating it with their main product is the perfect way
to release this. Just look at Periscope ( and Vine ) living as separate
products from Twitter, vs FB releasing FB Live deeply embedded into their
primary product. The likelihood of the mainstream users willingness to try out
and adopt the new product/feature is increased.

And in this case, I think all the additional features that comes with IG
Stories is actually very cohesive with the rest of the IG features. All the
new stickers, overlays, filters, and I'm sure they'll be adding the same
animated filters are all very natural extensions of the IG user experience.

So many people use Snapchat as a photo/filter editor to then share on
IG/Twitter/FB, now they can do that very same experience directly in IG and
share it with their existing fans.

And maybe an overlooked aspect is IG's better UX vs snapchat's bizarre
stubbornness to maintain their oddly user antagonistic UI.

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dharmon
I guess it comes down to goals. If the goal is to capture the young crowd
whose attention Snapchat stole, then I still think integrating into Instagram
won't work. A separate app is still a long-shot, but a long-shot is better
than certain failure.

But like I said, for everybody else, I think it will go over well.

In other words, I think absolutely no tweens are going to abandon Snapchat for
this. And that's perfectly fine so long as they're not expecting them to.

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dtien
You could be right, the 'tweens'/millennials could just choose to stick with
SC. But I think it's just as telling with SC's recent spate of features that
are moving away from the ephemeral nature of the app ( ie Memories ). Where
you can store or save Snaps or Stories.... oh you mean sort of like a personal
gallery? Which leads naturally to newsfeed.

Bottom line is that the photo/messaging apps are converging. And I don't think
there's necessarily any loyalty to a particular platform especially if they
have very similar features.

The crowd will move to the platform where their friends are, and where the
celebs/bloggers/artists/influencers are. And IMO I think IG has a slight
advantage with that group at this point because of the non-ephemeral nature of
their app which led/leads more naturally to those types building their 'brand'
and following. Nobody wants to spend hours and energy creating content that
simply disappears. But these types have followed the crowd onto SC and lived
by the SC rules, but I'd have to believe they would prefer the other model if
they had a choice.

So I guess what I'm saying is that these 2 apps are converging to the same
point, albeit from different ends of the spectrum with different pressures.
And once that happens, loyalty to a platform goes out the window, and being
able to capture the cool kids and influencers will be the key to where the
rest of the crowd goes. So I don't think it's 'certain failure' from IG's
point of view, and certainly still anyones game.

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ztratar
Such a shameless rip off.

Working on this project at Facebook must have felt like being Goliath and
trying to kill David.

I hope Snapchat crushes this.

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jug
I wouldn't be surprised since this never seemed part of Instagram culture. I
haven't used the Instagram feature of direct messaging either. I'd like to see
friend lists in Instagram though, to filter between friends & family and
artists. I guess that train has passed though, and Facebook instead chose to
un-chronolgize the feed by how it "knows" what you want to see... _sigh_

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corobo
Additional discussion over yonder
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12210324](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12210324)

