As Snapchat’s Losses Continue to Climb, Instagram’s Stories Soar

Last November, Instagram launched Stories, a feature that closely resembled the photo and video sharing application Snapchat.

Since then, Snapchat has experienced a decline in daily users and engagement. This has led many to believe that the relatively new Instagram feature encouraged users to stay on the application instead of using Snapchat for their temporary video and photo postings. What might have caused this shift from Snapchat to Instagram Stories?

First, Instagram users are much easier to locate than Snapchat users. If someone already follows an Instagram account, they automatically have access to their stories which appear in the top bar of the application.

Instagram Stories also have a larger variety of features that Snapchats don’t: links, hashtags, and user tags. This makes Instagram an easier platform for businesses, since they can link stories to products or websites by simply asking users to “swipe up” while watching.

It also seems that Instagram has a more aesthetically pleasing way to display older photos and videos. Snapchat traditionally restricted users to only posting live content, but later added a “Camera Roll” feature that includes a timestamp. Instagram allows users to do the same thing as the Camera Roll, but without the unsightly timestamp.

Overall, Snapchat is still a popular smartphone application among young people, but that might be changing soon. Businesses should be ready to amp up their efforts on Instagram to make sure users are seeing their content.

Written by Social Summer Camp intern, Francesca Neely-Dickey.