If you were to look at the above screenshot above, you would be inclined to assume that it’s from Snapchat, the mobile photo app that lets you share photos with your friends. But, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, it’s actually Instagram. Yea, Instagram. Breath easy though, I was confused for a moment as well.
Today Instagram is launching a near identical clone to Snapchat called Instagram Stories. Let us go over the similarities. To start, Instagram Stories are limited to a 24 hr period and then they disappear… like Snapchat. Instagram Stories allow you to add emojis and draw on your stories.. like Snapchat. Instagram stories are public if your account is set to public… also like Snapchat. Do I need to go on?
There are a lot of similarities between the two platforms, but is that a bad thing? Maybe, but maybe not. Stay with me for a moment. Instagram is amazing at applying creative filters and sharing those ‘in the moment’ photos with your friends. If they could take the best of Snapchat and apply it to Instagram, well, then we could possibly have the best platform for everything. At least that is what it appears Instagram is after. The question is, will it work.
The key thing here is that is seems that Instagram is trying to foster sharing within their application. Currently Instagram is very one sided where the user shares a photo and people like it. There’s very little interaction, but that could change with Instagram Stories. I know that at MobileSyrup we will be looking at the new feature closely to see if it’s a way we can bring more content to our readers.
The new app will rollout to iOS and Android global over the next few weeks. But the question still stands, will users like it and will it stick?
[source]Instagram Blog[/source]
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