Instagram Stories and Snapchat: The Levi’s Effect in Social Media
For sometime now I was seeing that my Facebook feed was having less of stories about ‘people’ and more news stories. There were stories about Donald Trump saying something than by friend Donald visiting India for the first time. Okay, I don’t have a friend Donald on Facebook but you get the point!. Instagram launched stories recently and this brought me to this headline.
There was an article on similar lines about how Facebook was worried that people were sharing less on Facebook. This was ironic for a social network that became popular connecting people through likes and shares. People are still sharing no doubt, probably more than before, but what is concerning is the lack of original content. There are more cat videos (and now GIF’s) shared than ‘Birthday and Anniversary’ Photos.
This has Facebook worried because personal connection was one of the main reasons for its hyper growth. Without original content there could emerge another media app that will take away a chunk of their users. It might sound alarmist but in the ever changing world of tech and business you never know.
The rise of Snapchat
When Snapchat came up 4 years ago, it instantly captured the attention of a large population of millennials — or maybe the early Generation Z. In part, it was due to their focus on photos (and later videos) that disappeared after a single view but also in part due to the fact that this new medium had all their friends but not their family. This meant that Snaps provided a medium for tweens to share content with their friends without getting that awkward comment by their uncle or aunt who just got introduced to social media. Facebook which snapped up (pun intended) Instagram and Whatsapp for record valuations tried to buy Snapchat also in 2013, because it understood this early on. In retrospect, this spurn seems to have paid off well since Snapchat has not only shown huge prospects for advertisers but also grown its user base to late millennials.
Instagram Stories — Avoiding the Levi’s Effect
When Instagram debuted its brand new update — Stories, it was another attempt by the parent company Facebook to retain its appeal to a large population of youngsters that seems disillusioned by a social network which is itself entering teenage next year. This new update allows users to upload photos or short videos that last just 24 hours and do not appear on the timeline. Wait a minute! Isn’t that what Snapchat does? Yes, they have copied the entire playbook off Snapchat. And by the first looks, seem to have done it better.
This brings me to the reason for the title of this Many years ago Levi’s which was a hip brand among youngsters for a long time faced a similar problem. A generation that wore these jeans kept wearing them after growing older. This made their children to look for newer, more younger brands that appealed to them and even jeans itself. Remember the baggy pants from the 90’s? Levi’s tried hard to shed this image and bring back their youth appeal. In fact marketeers have faced this problems in many brands.
Facebook is also at a similar situation but from the other side. When parents started joining Facebook to connect with their old friends the children started looking for alternatives. Many brands have faced and some have come out it successfully also. Levi’s again is a good example. For a brand that is over 160 years, by re-inventing itself and staying on top of the latest trends Levi’s has mastered ‘staying power’ better than anyone else. And the best part it has not compromised on core brand values.
With Stories and many other similar changes, Facebook is trying to do just that. Remain relevant. With the large user base it already has, Instagram Stories might end up beating Snapchat at its game in the long run. They also seem to have come up with a more polished offering that attracts to its current user base. After all there is only so much that one can get through the First Mover Advantage. Or maybe not! The jury is still out.
Whatever the case, these kids who are uploading morning selfies with cat filters are soon going to join the workforce and bring with them with big purchasing power. And there will be brands vying to spend ad dollars on catching them. Facebook has to be there to get a share of this money and knows that this is a game it cannot afford to loose. Snapchat … your move.
