I really wanted to hate Instagram Stories. I tried to, in fact.
There's something about Facebook basically taking over everything that irks me. And if you've read The Circle by Dave Eggers, you'll have a pretty good idea of where that feeling comes from.
Look, Mr Zuckerberg, just give other social media platforms a chance, alright? We know you're powerful, you're never going to vanish from the world of web like Tom from MySpace. Take a breather and be happy with how your *original* ideas have revolutionised the internet.
You wanted Instagram, so you got Instagram. You wanted WhatsApp, so you got WhatsApp. You also wanted around a dozen other technical softwares, so you went and snaffled those up too.
On the other hand, you failed to buy Snapchat, so what happens then? Keep calm and let your Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom, and his team proudly rip off the whole damn idea — and do it EVEN better, already.
You knew what was going to follow. You totally knew most publications were going to report about how you're starting a social media war, that a gazillion memes and tweets were about to bombard our timelines, and that Snapchat employees were going to be pretty peeved.
But you didn't care. It's all publicity at the end of the day isn't it.
The world is digging you. I am digging you. The whole of team ELLE are digging you (I've already given a mini tutorial on 'Instagram Stories' in the meeting room to a dozen fashion editors, content directors and bookings assistants), and at least 90 per cent of my Instagram followers who've jumped on the bandwagon are seemingly addicted too.
The thing is, as much as we all tried arguing that Instagram Stories will never be able to replace our beloved Snapchat, it's already edging in on everyone's favourite filter featurer.
I haven't clicked into a single Snapchat story in the past two days. This is probably nothing to most people with more of a life than me (it's in my job description, OKAY?), but it sure is a good enough indicator of how my interests have shifted.
On top of that, the odd few people who didn't comprehend the obsession with Snapchat are the same people who are sending the highest number of pictures and videos to their Instagram 'slideshow'.
ELLE's Deputy Editor, Lotte Jeffs, is a prime example (sorry, Lotte). She really had no care for Snapchat at all, not even a tiny bit. But this morning, I tapped into Instagram to see that the first story in my list was a video of her heavenly-curated bathroom shelf.
Other definite pros include:
- Can screenshot your crush without the embarrassment of them realising
- Story is likely to be exposed to more people (#instafamous)
- Identify ghost followers (you never like my pictures, but you can view all my stories??)
- There's no need to add anyone to view a story (we are a lazy generation)
- You don't need to swap between apps (again, we are a lazy generation)
- The metallic drawing tool is very satisfying
The only downside is the lack of filters. I am absolutely confident that the Instagram Stories team are on top of this. Saying that, I've decided that Snapchat filters are pretty basic too, thanks to some mega creative people in South Korea:
