"Snapchat vs Instagram Stories: Who's Winning?"

Social Media “Stories”: Snapchat vs Instagram
“The pros and cons of each storytelling feature!”

Snapchat’s expiring, time-sensitive content has influenced a shift from hyper-curated (a la Instagram galleries) to a more laid-back method of photo sharing. To keep up with the changing mindset of social media users and a general growing trend of live-centric content online, Instagram recently introduced its own story feature. Its stark similarities to Snapchat’s ever-popular story feature initially confused users and sparked controversy in the social media community.

“What do I post? Where do I post it?” asked various users. To this day, several brands and users seemed confused about this. In many cases, users have taken preference for a single platform for stories (think Team Snapchat Stories, Team Instagram Stories). Additionally, there’s been a trend of double-posting saved content from Instagram stories to Snapchat stories, using Snapchat’s “Memories” feature.

So, which should you opt for, and why? The strengths and weaknesses of Instagram stories versus Snapchat stories, weighed out below:

1. Editing. Part of what makes Snapchat fun is the ability to endlessly personalize your photos and videos with stickers, emojis, lenses and filters. Instagram lacks these capabilities at the moment, but we can only imagine what tools might be added shortly as Instagram gathers data on how users are interacting with the new feature.
   Winner: Snapchat. Team Snapchat: 1, Team Instagram: 0.
2. Visibility. Your Instagram story has instant visibility. Finding your friends on Snapchat can be a little tricky, and some users who view their Instagram following as a highly engaged community have struggled to make the same impact on Snapchat. With Instagram, a story is instantly visible to the followers that you’ve spent time growing on the platform. This is a distinct advantage over Snapchat, particularly for brands that have been working hard at engaging with their growing follower base over the past several years. Also, Instagram stories are very visible when opening the app, as they are placed at the top of the feed.
   Winner: Instagram. Team Snapchat: 1, Team Instagram: 1.
3. Time-sensitivity. Instagram stories are purely 24 hours. Snapchat abandoned its ephemeral nature by introducing “Memories,” whereas Instagram’s new feature takes an extra step to be “all in-the-moment.” Instagram’s “add media from camera roll” function only works for content taken within 24 hours. While brands are finding clever ways to upload professionally edited story pieces with high production value to live-centric platforms like Snapchat, this is proving to be a little more difficult on Instagram. It’s worth noting that data has found these stories that focus on casual engagement or highly-coordinated live moments perform exceptionally well.
   Winner: Tie - depends on preference. Team Snapchat: 1 Team Instagram: 1.
4. Messaging capabilities. Messaging capabilities on both apps allow viewers to reach out. Like Snapchat, Instagram story viewers can message a user within a particular portion of the content they’re watching. If you’re a brand with a large following and engaged audience, there’s a tremendous opportunity to interact and offer dynamic calls to action when speaking to your followers. Brands could leverage story responses for everything from contests and promo codes to customer support.
   Winner: Tie - same feature. Team Snapchat: 1 Team Instagram: 1.

The verdict: it’s a tie! For many individuals and brands, it’s a matter of creativity versus visibility. While Snapchat offers more tools, filters and effects for creativity, Instagram’s simple design, and top-of-feed story placement enable users to create content immediately and enjoy quicker engagement from their audience.
However… with stories and the recent introduction of instant video within Facebook Messenger, it’s clear the powerhouse company has set its sights on Snapchat.
It’s also worth noting Instagram’s strong, highly-visible partnership with Apple. Instagram is clearly on stage as the partner in photo sharing as Apple rolls out their much-hyped iOs update. Could this give Instagram an advantage over Snapchat in the future? We wouldn’t doubt it.

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Author

Emily-Rose Gibbons                   &                   C.K Brechin 

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