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Snapchat is changing to compete with Instagram Stories

Snapchat recently introduced Auto Advance, a feature that allows users automatically play all stories from their friends and once the stories ended users were returned to their home page. However, the developers decided to change this feature due to the criticism from the public who did not enjoy it at all, since it forced them to either watch all the stories or manually go back to the main menu.

Snapchat has about 150 million users after almost five years, but Instagram Stories has nearly 100 million daily active users after just two months. The massive user base explains this phenomenon Instagram already had before Instagram Stories, with almost 500 million people using the social network. Most users of Stories were active users of Instagram and now are using this new feature.

Snapchat developers decided to change the Auto Advance feature due to the criticism from the public who did not enjoy it at all. Photo credit: News Report Center

When Instagram released the Stories feature, Snapchat knew it was going to be trouble. Both companies are now competing against each other to capture users and become the favorite app of instant sharing of photos and videos.

Instagram Stories initially drew criticism from users that complained about how the app was changing its essence, but in just ten weeks the user base increased and reached almost 60 percent of Snapchat’s users.

Experts consider that if Instagram Stories keep developing features attractive enough to users to make them ditch Snapchat, they will be consolidated as the number one app in the teen user base. This is possible, according to L&F Capital Management, because Snapchat features are easy enough to be replicated without much inconvenience.

The secret that keeps Snapchat alive

For most teen users -between 12 and 25 years old- the main feature of Snapchat that would make them stick with that app instead of switching to Instagram Stories are the filters. The funny filters such as the puppy dog face and those with beauty features are popular among teenagers and young adults.

In that sense, Snapchat still dominates the “viral” market, especially in the 12 to 25-age demographic. Another feature that makes Snapchat have a little advantage over Instagram stories is their private direct messaging system, although Instagram has the Direct Messages feature that is more competitive every day.

Also, considering that Facebook owns Instagram, Messenger is the main app that can threat Snapchat’s direct messaging features. But Facebook Messenger and Instagram Stories’ users are not necessarily leaving Snapchat for good. It seems that a considerable amount of users are loyal to Snapchat and even when they are interested in Instagram Stories, they rather keep up with both apps instead of leaving one for another.

No more Auto-Advance 

Snapchat included in its last update the elimination of the Auto-Advance feature and the inclusion of some tech changes that now allow users to tap on a Story to view only that story, without having to check all stories at once.

This will probably answer to claims about the ability to control how to see stories and when to stop. The update will be available soon to all iOS and Android users. For now, only some select Android users can download it.

Source: Teen Vogue

Categories: Technology
Geraldine Chacon:
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