Instagram Stories = More Noise!
So Instagram have just announced their “Instagram Stories” feature, and the world has gone nuts about it. If you have been following along on Twitter the general buzz is that it’s suspiciously similar to stories on Snapchat.
This comes after similar such developments across major platforms. Spotlight, moments, “while you were away”, Snapchat stories. So I think it’s safe to say the jury is still out on whether or not this is a step in the right direction for the photo sharing giant.
I’m sure in time the crowd will themselves decide whether they love it or loath it.
At team phlow we have had some interesting discussions about the release, how it works and what it means for Instagram and visual media online —which has inspired me to share some of my own thoughts with you.
“With Instagram Stories, you don’t have to worry about over-posting. Stories lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile.”
Your friends just got so much more noisy
The major platforms are encouraging me to post more and more content, “share all the moments of your day”. Do you seriously want to see absolutely everything I do throughout my day?
Will this not simply lead to more and more noise being created around our social circles? Stuff that I am not interested in, stuff that bores me, stuff that stops me from seeing the things that I am passionate about.
I love my friends, but I don’t want to see their breakfast, that they are at the gym again or what bizarre drink they are having at the pub.
I want to see the things that matter to ME!!!
Views vs Likes
Something else has changed with the release of Instagram Stories and that is how they are measured.
Likes are what we refer to in the marketing world as a vanity metric, however to a degree they do tell me how effective my content is being in terms of suitability for my audience be it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook…
If I post a picture of my cat and it gets 20 likes, but the picture of my dog gets 200 then I know which of my pets to post more of.
However with the introduction of stories, Instagram have introduce a new way of measuring them… “Views”. I’ve just lost any way of telling whether my content is relevant or appreciated, and I now have two separate metrics within the same platform with which to gauge what I’m posting.
Why the difference in the method of measuring the content? Is it wise to have both operating parallel to each other like this?
My thoughts on Instagram Stories and recent Social Media developments in general
Personally, speaking as Scott Watson rather than phlow, I think this feature has been rushed and there has been a failure to properly think it through.
Whether this is deemed a carbon copy of Snapchat Stories or not, is irrelevant to me. What bothers me is that it doesn’t seem a good product market fit for the existing Instagram platform.
Of course this is purely my thoughts, and I’m sure the boffins at Instagram/Facebook are more in the know about their platform and their audience than I am. Only time and large scale use will tell whether this is going to work for them and their users.
However I will leave you with this thought…
We see Yahoo trying anything and everything, constantly changing their approach, their business model — hoping to stumble upon something that works… We see Twitter introducing new features and functionality in an attempt to be more like Facebook and attract many more millions of users… Snapchat recently switch their approach in an almost u-turn like fashion introducing longer term content in contrast to the shorter term approach that made them so big… Now Instagram???
When will the big platforms learn to be good at what they do? Focus on what you do well, be the best at that.
