Instagram stories vs. Snapchat stories: is Instagram Snapchat’s biggest com­pet­i­tion?

Snapchat vs. Instagram: for some, this com­par­is­on could seem illogical. After all, the two services offer fun­da­ment­ally different functions; firstly, Snapchat is primarily used to com­mu­nic­ate with a small network of users with whom you can share photos, short videos, and text messages. Instagram, on the other hand, is a photo and video-sharing platform that enables users to post content for a wider audience.

But the two popular social media platforms are steadily evolving to resemble one another, in par­tic­u­lar since the launch of Instagram stories, a feature that borrows heavily from the original Snapchat version. When comparing Instagram and Snapchat’s story features, the sim­il­ar­it­ies are evident. Launched in 2013, Snapchat’s ‘My Story’ feature allows users to create stories with photos and videos that are available for 24 hours. Meanwhile, Instagram stories were launched 3 years after Snapchat’s ‘My Story’ feature, and work in the same way. But how do the two formats differ? And could Instagram’s story feature really be a serious com­pet­it­or to Snapchat, or even oust the app from the market for good?

At a first glance, Instagram and Snapchat have a lot in common. They are both es­sen­tially platforms that enable users to express them­selves and com­mu­nic­ate with others using images and videos. They were also both initially launched as apps. However, the two services ori­gin­ally had very different ap­proaches with regard to their core functions. However, as both apps have gradually started to in­cor­por­ate similar features into their ap­plic­a­tions, the dis­tinc­tion between the two services is becoming ever more blurred. In doing this, the providers have cleverly created a strong com­pet­i­tion between the two apps, es­pe­cially when comparing Snapchat and Instagram’s stories features.

In 2010, Instagram was launched as a purely photo-blogging platform and has since become the most widely used app of its kind. It is used by in­di­vidu­als, brands, celebrit­ies, and companies alike. The de­velopers of Facebook re­cog­nised Instagram‘s potential early on and snapped up the business in 2012 for $1 billion. Initially, the service was only available as an app, which allowed users to upload images from their smart­phones and tablets and publish them on Instagram with ease. A web-based version of the platform did not appear until 2013, the same year Instagram im­ple­men­ted its video editing function. The latter feature allowed users to add and edit short video clips. Then, in 2016 the maximum length was increased from 15 seconds to 60 seconds.

At the end of 2013, Instagram also added a function called Instagram Direct that allowed users to send images and videos to other users via private messages. With users now able to com­mu­nic­ate privately, the in­tro­duc­tion of Instagram Direct has con­trib­uted to blurring the line between the image sharing platform and messenger apps. Users can now decide whether they want to share their content publicly, restrict access to their followers only, or send it directly to specific users.

With the app's former default settings, the di­men­sions of the photos were limited to a 4:3 ratio display so that they resembled old Kodak and Polaroid formats. While this is still possible, since August 2015, users have been free to display their pho­to­graphs and videos in landscape and portrait formats. One year later, in August 2016, the Instagram stories function was finally released, and it was im­me­di­ately apparent to users of the app that it was a direct copy of Snapchat’s ‘My Story’ feature. Users post a series of images and videos, which are then available for other users to view for 24 hours. But this isn’t the only feature that is strongly re­min­is­cent of Snapchat functions; in order to promote com­pet­i­tion between the two apps, Instagram has borrowed Snapchat’s key features. Instagram users can now create and watch live video streams, send photos and videos that are auto­mat­ic­ally deleted after a given time as well as embed stickers, texts, and filters into their stories. 

Thanks to the sheer number of new functions, the way people use Instagram is also gradually starting to change. In the past, people primarily used Instagram to attract followers and share at­tract­ive content with other users, whereas the app is now shifting towards private messaging and fast-paced com­mu­nic­a­tion. Instagram’s story feature bridges the gap between these elements as users can decide whether to share their stories publicly or privately.

Par­tic­u­larly when comparing both apps’ story features, it’s clear to see the increased number of sim­il­ar­it­ies between Instagram and Snapchat (the story formats only differ in their nuances). Both services offer platforms to publish video diaries. These diaries can show, for example, an excursion or events from the user’s day. They are shared with other users for 24 hours. Busi­nesses, or­gan­isa­tions, and celebrit­ies can also use both apps to market them­selves or their products. Both apps are es­pe­cially suited to engaging with a younger target group.

Snapchat’s story function now enables busi­nesses to broadcast ads to their target audience. For example, busi­nesses can insert an advert between in­di­vidu­al sections of their story and present it to a pre­vi­ously defined target audience – spe­cify­ing by gender, age or place. It’s also possible to create a sponsored lenses (an­im­a­tions overlaid on the user’s face) and geo­fil­ters (lenses that are only active in specific locations) for users to view and share. An example of this is when American fast food chain Taco Bell caused a stir with its special Cinco de Mayo ad­vert­ising campaign; with this lens, users could place an animated taco over their face, so that only their eyes and mouth were re­cog­niz­able. The Taco Bell logo was also visible in addition to the cartoon. The Taco Bell campaign was a roaring success, gen­er­at­ing 224 million views in one day, making it the most viewed campaign in Snapchat’s history. Instagram stories have not yet caught up with ‘My Story’ in terms of dis­play­ing ad­vert­ise­ments, but the app is hot on Snapchat’s heels with Instagram now in a test phase for in­cor­por­at­ing adverts into stories. Companies can therefore expect to be able to use Instagram stories for more diverse marketing op­por­tun­it­ies very soon. Instagram already offers some marketing options for busi­nesses in the form of sponsored posts, so sponsored stories are sure to be the next step for the social media platform. Aside from con­ven­tion­al ad­vert­ising space, however, the story format is also suitable for a new kind of campaign – one that really engages with in­di­vidu­al users. In filming short clips to create a story, companies can advertise their goods and services using snappy, behind-the-scenes videos. This humanises the business and brings it closer to the user. Stories can also be used to report an in­ter­est­ing event. While there are still many more con­ceiv­able marketing strategies involving Snapchat and Instagram stories, the tech­no­logy is still in its infancy, with many more concepts still waiting to be explored. This gives ad­vert­isers an excellent op­por­tun­ity to generate creative ideas and push the bound­ar­ies, which could ul­ti­mately redefine the concept of social media marketing. However, with engaging content and in­nov­at­ive ideas for story campaigns, it’s still possible for busi­nesses to make a lasting im­pres­sion on their followers, par­tic­u­larly with a young target group.    

Overall, Instagram offers a larger outreach as the service has far more users than Snapchat – Instagram has more than 600 million users worldwide, whereas Snapchat only has 150 million. Moreover, many companies and or­gan­iz­a­tions already have a number of followers on Instagram, who can all be addressed using the story function. A special ad­di­tion­al feature of Instagram stories is that they can link to another account or to content outside of Instagram (with Snapchat, this is only possible if the user pays extra).

While Instagram has a broader user base, Snapchat is suited to spe­cific­ally targeting a teenage audience as the app is primarily used by teenagers and users up to their mid-20s. In addition, marketing campaigns on Snapchat are still re­l­at­ively few and far between, es­pe­cially outside of the United States. Com­pet­i­tion in the United Kingdom is therefore still re­l­at­ively small so you can present your company or brand as a pro­gress­ive ‘early adopter’.

Rather than choose between the two platforms, companies who want to use stories to address their target audience should focus on the different ap­proaches of the two platforms and adapt their stories as best as possible to the re­quire­ments of both. For example, while Snapchat stories often convey a spon­tan­eous and youthful feel, Instagram content is often more pro­fes­sion­al, ‘smooth’, and de­lib­er­ately curated. Of course, it’s possible to publish the same stories on both platforms, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to be aware of the re­spect­ive service’s char­ac­ter­ist­ics and to consider them in the planning and creation of content.

With the evolution of Instagram and the addition of the stories function, it’s ab­so­lutely clear that Facebook Inc. is in­ten­tion­ally placing itself in direct com­pet­i­tion with Snapchat. Whether swiping Snapchat’s signature features (self-deleting messages, addition of stickers and filters in the stories) really pays off remains to be seen. There is a risk that this bold move could put off some of Instagram’s loyal users. Time alone will tell how users take to this flood of updates; time and time again, it’s been proven that copying suc­cess­ful services does not ne­ces­sar­ily guarantee success, even if the re­spons­ible company is suc­cess­ful itself. Take Google+ for example; the search engine’s attempt to establish an al­tern­at­ive to Facebook failed, despite the company’s similarly extensive outreach.

Still, Instagram’s odds of stealing some of Snapchat’s share of the market are quite strong. After all, Instagram already has a huge number of users. Among these, there is a sig­ni­fic­ant pro­por­tion of young users, who are most affected by the addition of Snapchat features. Just about every one of Snapchat’s functions is now available in some way on Instagram, per­suad­ing many to switch services. According to Instagram, the company won more than 100 million new users in half a year, which un­doubtedly is partially due to the new story function.

Looking at Snapchat’s range of functions, the app’s main purpose now appears to be grav­it­at­ing towards instant messaging so one must also assume that Snapchat has much more com­pet­i­tion besides Instagram. The market leader in the field of instant messaging is WhatsApp, with Facebook Messenger also being another major player. Like Instagram, both of these apps have already adopted various Snapchat features (with WhatsApp, users can add text to their images and Facebook Messenger allows users to add an­im­a­tions to their videos). Snapchat therefore has the same sphere of influence as its rivals in this field (picture and video messaging) as well as in the new sector of instant messaging.

We will have to wait and see whether Snapchat can stand up to Facebook Inc. This of course also depends on its users; if they decide to remain loyal to Snapchat and continue to use the service, this could lay the found­a­tions for a suc­cess­ful future. Another factor integral to Snapchat’s success is the de­vel­op­ment of further ad­vert­ising op­por­tun­it­ies and the use of other as­so­ci­ated sources of income. This will naturally occur over time with the evolution of the app.

Another recent in­nov­a­tion by Snapchat was the ‘Snap Spec­tacles’ – these are sunglasses with an in­teg­rated camera and a sync function for the Snapchat app. In addition, Snap Inc. (the company behind Snapchat) is allegedly planning to float itself on the stock market in 2017. The long-term success of Snapchat therefore depends on several different criteria. Because of this, its rivalry with Instagram and other Facebook Inc. services is expected to continue for a while yet.