It was 7:00 AM on a weekday when I learned about Instagram Stories for the first time. I was 24% awake checking my inbox, checking my Facebook, checking my Instagram and then lastly landing on my Twitter – my normal daily routine. It was my Instagram feed that I learned about Stories though and it came directly from (almost) the source – Eva Chen, herself. Her latest post directed me to the Instagram account where I watched the video of the feature for the first time. What were my thoughts initially?
a) It’s too early to be watching something with this much high energy
b) I’m probably not going to use this
c) Would I ever be able to figure this out?
d) Is… this… Snapchat stories?
If you’re wondering if it’s normal for me to have at least 4 questions for almost everything in life – it’s true. This is actually my real life. all the time.
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I quickly learned from my fellow colleagues/millennials (that’s what they call us at work) that this is exactly like Snapchat stories, but you know what? In the two weeks of using this product, myself, I’ve come to realize that no one really cares that it might be a copy cat. Meanwhile, Snapchat doesn’t know what to do with themselves so they went ahead and decided to create a super racist filter.
I had my doubts that I would be able to use Stories successfully, but after doing a deep dive with one of our interns, I felt pretty confident that I would be able to get the hang of it. I’ve learned a lot though and what I like the most about the product though is that it’s something to support the photos in my feed. Yes, I may spend a fair bit of time trying to curate the perfect feed, but Stories is different. It’s a little bit more “unscripted,” and it allows people to see the outtakes in my life. There are some things that make better photos and then there are things that make better snapshots in the form of instant photos and videos and THAT is stories.
One of the biggest complaints that I’ve heard about from people about Snapchat is that 1) it kills their batteries, but 2) they have to have a separate follower base. With Instagram, it’s a 2 in 1. I don’t need to create a separate follower base for Instagram Stories because they are already there. I actually had Snapchat over a year ago, but deleted it because I was over it. Meanwhile, I still had a lot of friends using the app and sometimes went back and forth as to whether I should download it. Well, now I have my answer.
After a couple weeks of using it, I’m officially hooked. I don’t normally include a lot of my friends in the photos in my feed, but it has been fun bringing them into my stories and highlighting the things we’re doing every day. How does everyone else feel about it though? Are you Team Snapchat or Team Insta Stories?!