Instagram is gaining more and more users every day. Instagram is attributing this growth to the development (and improvement) of Instagram Stories. They have surpassed over 700 million users. Which includes a growth of 100 million in just five months. That’s kind of an insane number, don’t you think? At least in terms of growth. So do you really think the growth is because of the Snapchat type features that were introduced? Or do you think people just want a place to post videos and pictures? Either way, this is amazing news for Instagram. But does that mean they will continue to “copy” features from other platforms, or make theirs unique?
I have argued against Instagram Stories. If I’m being honest, I find them a bit annoying when they pop up. On occasion (and for very select users), I will go in and have a look at someone’s story. But for the most part you can simply post the same thing IN the feed itself. Just add it to the feed! For example, I just went into someone’s Story – not going to name any names. And it was just a video about how her hair looked nasty (which it didn’t), followed by a picture of her shoulders showing freckles (which you could barely see). Followed by a rant about not wanting to go to the dentist. All information that I could get from your feed itself. I’m not hating on the story itself. I think it’s great. I just don’t see the value in having it in “Stories” format.
Maybe I’m using it wrong. I don’t know. I don’t “get” Stories. But apparently millions of other people do, so Instagram must be doing something right. Note, I’m progressive enough to know that just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not good. I am not one to jump on any bandwagon. That’s not my style. But I recognize that this is a good tool as millions of people seem to be using it. And I love when people can come together on a platform and use it the way they want to use it.
And the stats are proving that it’s working. 700 million Instagram users. 161 million Snapchat users. Is Instagram doing something “better” than Snapchat? Or do we just like the platforms we like, and continue to use them as they grow? I myself tend to be ride or die when it comes to my social media accounts. I had Facebook for a very, very long time, but found it to not be useful any more. I joined that bandwagon before it was cool. When Facebook was only available to people in college and university. And I know my school wasn’t the first to get it.
I’m not trying to brag, but to demonstrate a point. After a while I got tired of what Facebook had become. There was too much going on in the news feed. And while that’s not Facebook’s doing directly, it annoyed me. I believe you can make some adjustments now so that certain things don’t appear in the feed, but too little, too late Facebook. Also – I could be wrong on this as I haven’t used Facebook for at least 8 months. Insert shocked face.
Getting back to Instagram. Are people loyal to the platform and just adjusting to the improvements? I would argue that some are, but they are also pulling in so many more users monthly, that they must be doing something that Snapchat isn’t. Stories seems to be more popular than Snapchat, and maybe it’s a generational thing. But I think that Instagram is being used differently than Snapchat, and that’s not a bad thing. Even if I don’t like Stories. 🙂