Instagram copies Snapchat to introduce Stories

Instagram will start the rollout for a big new update to its mobile apps today with a new feature called “Stories” today. Taking a lot of cues from Snapchat, Stories is a way to post content on a secondary feed that will disappear automatically after a day.

The Facebook-owned Instagram has nearly 300 million daily users and is the biggest photo-sharing social network in the world right now. Today, they are introducing a big new update, adding a whole new element to the social network. “Instagram Stories” is a way to share all the moments of your day without having to keep them on your profile forever. They will disappear after 24 hours.

“With Instagram Stories, you don’t have to worry about overposting,” reads the blog post. “Instead, you can share as much as you want throughout the day — with as much creativity as you want.”

In simple words, Instagram just completely ripped off Snapchat’s biggest and most-used feature— also known as Stories. They didn’t even bother to change the name. What’s more is that they have even introduced text and drawing tools to make your stories “come to life”, another signature Snapchat feature.

Instagram Stories will now be visible at the top of your home feed in the form of small circled-profile pictures. The top ones will be the people you interact with the most. If there is something new to see, the profile photo will have a colorful ring around it. Using Instagram Stories is pretty simple (especially if you’ve used Snapchat); tap on any pic to see the person’s story, swipe to switch to the next person’s story and, if you want to comment, tap and send a private message to that person on Instagram Direct.

Just a couple of months ago, Instagram unveiled its biggest update ever! Not only did they completely revamp the app layout, but they also introduced a new purplish-pink icon and changed the order in which posts were displayed. They received a lot of flak for it so it is a really bold move to go ahead and copy another apps’ feature right after that.