Did Instagram And Facebook Do Snapchat A Favor?

the uptick, issue vi

I think so. A big one, actually.

A few months ago, Instagram launched stories, a near-perfect (and in my opinion, improved) replica of Snapchat’s 24-hour disappearing photos & videos.

And of course, Facebook now has its own version.

While many of us see this as Zuckerberg’s slap to Snapchat, I argue that this is a big win for Snapchat.

Here’s the thing: IG & FB stories are halting the slow migration that older millennials (and God forbid, those even older) were making towards Snapchat. I call this ‘generational creep’. And it usually marks the moment when youth begin to leave a platform.

Instagram and Facebook Stories means that Snapchat gets to keep its young, barely reachable, and highly sought audience.

The right long-term move for Zuckerberg would have been to allow his audiences to migrate over to Snapchat. As soon as the millennials started exiting Snapchat, Facebook could have bought out the first viable alternative to Snapchat, the app that the youth would inevitably migrate towards.