Snapchat first launched in 2011 and very quickly took the world by storm. Messages and images sent between users or posted to their accounts would eventually self-destruct.
Fast forward to today, this principal feature can be found on almost every major social media platform in some form or another—be it Stories, Statuses, or Fleets.
What Are Social Media Stories?
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for (var i = 0; i A Story is a full-screen vertical image or video, with optional filters and effects, that is shared to your social media feed for 24 hours. After that time elapses, it is no longer accessible to your friends and followers.
Typically, a Story can only be made and viewed on a mobile device.
While Stories is a common name that is used, popularized by Facebook and Instagram Stories, these temporary posts go by different names on different platforms. In fact, Facebook wasn’t even the first to come up or popularize these posts…
How Stories Dominated Social Media
Stories as we know it were built off of the success of Snapchat’s signature Snaps. Posts on the messaging app would disappear after 24 hours. These posts allowed you to apply augmented reality filters and effects and were shareable as both private messages or posts for followers.
Snapchat was originally launched in 2011. By 2016, Snapchat had 150 million daily active users. This, presumably, did not go unnoticed by other competitors in the business of social media. Eventually, a trend caught on.
Instagram added Stories of its own that same year. Facebook and YouTube released their own versions of Stories in 2017.
WhatsApp and Twitter at least went through the trouble of coming up with a different name for the feature for each platform. WhatsApp launched its Status in 2018 and Twitter launched Fleets in 2020.
Why Are Stories so Popular?
While apps like Instagram archive your Stories, it’s knowing that these posts are temporary that seem to keep people engaged. If you want to stay in the loop and know what is going on with your friends or favorite content creators, then you have to catch their Stories before they disappear.
Stories were given their name for a reason. They are glimpses into the lives of other people; captured moments happening in real-time. Being able to customize them with text, stickers, and music is just the cherry on top.
The timer plays a significant role too. When you see your friends posting beautifully curated photos of their travels and experiences to their timeline, you might feel as though you have to post some of your own.
Thankfully, Stories don’t have that same kind of pressure. They feel more casual and authentic. You don’t need to have the perfect lighting or angle, since that Story photo or video will disappear after a day anyway.
Which Social Media App Is Best for Stories?
Stories don’t differ too much between platforms, so it boils down to which app is your personal favorite overall.
You might be thinking that you can compare the number of daily active users each app has in an effort to try and determine which is best to use. But each social media platform has a different reach, and for some, Stories aren’t the main feature anyway.
For instance, Statista claims that 500 million WhatsApp accounts use WhatsApp Statuses every day. That’s a quarter of all WhatsApp users, and double the 250 million Snapchat currently has.
Facebook might have over two billion users, but only 300 million (15 percent) of them actively use Stories on the platform. On Instagram, half of its one billion users use Stories.
Stories: A Less Intimidating Way to Share
Stories are all over social media because they are a great way to share small daily updates, silly stuff, and other things in your life that don’t need to have a lasting presence on the internet.
They’re being heavily used by individuals and businesses alike. Want to share a good thing that happened in your personal life just now, or advertise a limited-time offer? Post a Story!