Differences and similarities between Instagram Stories and Snapchat

It's only been a few hours since Facebook introduced the "Instagram Stories" utility integrated into its photographic social network, and the commotion doesn't stop to grow. Its evident similarity with Snapchat, which Facebook tried to buy due to the resounding refusal of its founder, Evan Spiegel, is raising controversy with opinions of all kinds. The most regular users of both networks are positioned against the appearance of this new Instagram function.Those of Instagram because they assure that the social network will lose its essence (that of having the sole purpose of sharing photos) and for their part followers of Snapchat cannot avoid pronouncing the word “plagiarism”. And we don't really know how to say it, but after the refusal to sell it by the creators of Snapchat, Facebook literally releases a product the same… Well, think for yourselves.

The appearance of this new service by Facebook could not come at a worse time for Snapchat, since they were growing considerably to such an extent that, the monetization process expected to be carried out in the coming months.

And yes, obviously the format Snapchat was completely new and to say that Facebook has not relied on it would be lying, and we are not here for that. What we are here for is to try both services in order to make a comparison so that you can decide if you want to continue supporting the ghost or, on the contrary, take advantage of the integration of the Stories service within the Instagram app.

The opinion of users

In addition to the tests with which we have drawn the pertinent conclusions that we show you below, we have spoken with many users. Some never They had used Snapchat and others use it on a daily basis, but the conclusions we've reached by talking to all of them point to a triumphant reception for the new Instagram feature so far.

"What I like the most is being able to have everything in one application"

This has been the common denominator in the responses of the users with whom we have spoken. The simple fact of having one less application to consult or occupying GB in the memory of the mobile terminal is a strong point for people compared to Snapchat. To access Instagram Stories, you simply have to click on the “+” button at the top left of the Instagram timeline and choose between a photo, a video or see the stories of others.

Another point on which they agree is the scope of the visualizations. Let's explain this. If we take into account that Instagram is a social network that is almost six years old, the most veteran or most popular users will have a greater number of followers, which Which translates to more people seeing your stories. In contrast, Snapchat is much younger and users have to achieve followers without being able to count on other means, such as sharing stories on different networks such as Facebook or Twitter.

Leaving user comments aside, let's see what similarities and differences we have found using both services simultaneously.

Similarities between Instagram Stories and Snapchat

It is clear that the first and most obvious similarity between the two is how they work: ephemeral stories that disintegrate after 24 hours. They can be in both video and photographic formats and both can be edited, although here we are concerned with a difference that we will expand on in the next section. We can alternate photos and videos throughout our story and there is no set limit, we can post as many as we want. In both we can apply filters (not to be confused with face masks) although Instagram currently only offers colored ones, nothing temperature, speed or geolocation.

Another similarity between the two is found in the fact that we can know at all times who has seen our story since we have a views counter and a list in which the names of all users who visit us appear. We can block those users we don't want to see our stories and we can also see those of all those who have a public account.

Main Differences

The differences section has a few points, although they are not particularly transcendent since it is clear to us (speculating a bit) that Facebook will end up resolving all these differences in a reasonable amount of time.

On the one hand, and perhaps the most important difference of all, is that the possibility of sending "stories" privately is not available in Instagram Stories This was one of the things that fueled the growth of Snapchat, the ability to send photos or videos that vanish once the recipient has opened it In the same way does not notify us in the event that someone takes a screenshot of one of our photos as Snapchat does. Without a doubt, the latter is a point against him.

In terms of content personalization we find on Instagram still very basic filters, without stickers, although with three different types of brushes for writing On the other hand, allows us to insert more text than Snapchat, something that is appreciated.

We also don't have the option to quickly go from one story to another or turn off the sound, neither when recording nor when viewing the stories of others. Another thing that Instagram does not allow is to choose the exposure duration of the photos, by default is three seconds and we cannot increase or decrease it as we can do in Snapchat.

We continue with another of the exponential differences: the Snapchat masks, those that give us such good moments.At the moment Instagram doesn't have them, neither with the unicorn that vomits rainbows nor with the famous puppy that has gone around the world, but The gossip had some time ago that Facebook was after buying MSQRD, the app that allows us to do the same without the need for Snapchat. At the moment they are just that, unsubstantiated rumors, so we will have to wait for the next few days to find out what and how he integrates it.

Instagram does not have calls either as Snapchat has done for some time, although we must admit that it is not one of the services most used within the application.

Conclusions

During the tests we have carried out the Instagram application has multiplied by 5 the views of the videos compared to those of Snapchat. As we said, this is normal for users who start with a large number of followers, which is undoubtedly a great attraction and somewhat in favor of Instagram. For the rest, the tool still requires a little more development, especially in the customization section and we also hope that they do not overdo it with the announcements between stories. For the moment we can wait and see if the paths of these two apps converge or if it is the beginning of the end of either of the two.