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Create Instagram stories in your phone's web browser
You don't have to install Instagram's app to create stories on your phone. The photo-centric social network is adding support for posting stories directly from your browser. You have to be content with still photos and text overlays (no video or clever filters here), but this gives you a way to join in the action when you don't have room for the app or just don't care to use it.
No one uses Facebook Stories, so now they're available for #brands
Imagine working at Facebook and being the person/people who added Stories to the social network after seeing the way they took off on Snapchat and Instagram. Then think about the fact that hardly anyone is using the feature. That probably explains the reasoning behind opening the section up to Pages. Yep, #brands are getting access to the evaporating, 24-hour shelf-life videos now, too. Maybe Facebook found a group that will actually use them?
Instagram tool finally lets you cross-post Stories to Facebook
You'll probably have a lot more Facebook Stories to watch in the near future... except you can also watch most of them on Instagram. According to TechCrunch, the social network has begun rolling out a feature that allows you to cross-post Instagram Stories to Facebook Stories if you're in the US. The company began testing the feature in August, but as always, only a handful of people were lucky enough to get access to it. Now that it's officially out in the US, the feature will arrive on your Instagram app in the near future if it hasn't yet, giving you an easy way to share what's going on with your life with nan and pop.
Instagram’s new Stories sticker is all about polls
Instagram has introduced quite a few stickers for their Stories feature recently, but their latest update adds some valuable functionality as well. Now you can add a poll to your Instagram Stories through a sticker. You can write out your question, customize the choices and see real-time results within the app.
Stroll down The Emmys red carpet live on Facebook
For those planning to watch the Emmy Awards this Sunday, CBS and the Television Academy have put together a slew of different ways for you to experience the event. As Variety reports, with content on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, they have every bit of the show covered including pre-show prep, red carpet and backstage access.
Instagram Stories now work in your browser
Those of you who peruse Instagram on mobile web or desktop will have more to watch now that Stories are viewable on an internet browser. Just head to Instagram.com and check them out at the top of your feed, just like you would in the app, and use the arrow keys to flip between each mini-video.
Facebook knew about Snap's struggles months before the public
You may have only recently discovered that Snap isn't having much luck attracting new users, but Facebook knew months before -- and there's a chance you helped it find out. The Wall Street Journal has learned just how Facebook has been using app usage data from Onavo Protect, the VPN-based security app from its Onavo team, to see how Snapchat adoption has changed over time. The social network looked at aggregated info about the frequency and duration of app use to determine that Snapchat use slowed down soon after Snapchat-like Instagram Stories became available. In other words, Facebook knew it could double down on its anti-Snap strategy within just a few months.
Instagram adds photo and video replies to Stories
Instagram's ephemeral Stories feature has been around for less than a year, but it's already beaten Snapchat at its own game. Today, the social network is taking yet another swing at its rival with a new feature that lets you reply to Stories with a photo or video. That's right, in addition to writing a message reply, you can now also respond with an image of your very own. Basically, now when you're watching a Story, there's a new camera button at the bottom of the screen. Tap that, and you can either snap a pic of yourself, record a video or take a Boomerang. You can even move and resize the Story image that you're replying to and insert that in your photo. Apply a variety of filters or stickers, and hit Send to ship your creation over to your friend. At the other end, your buddy will get your photo/video response in their Direct message inbox, along with the thumbnail of the original Story. Instagram Stories continues to be one of Instagram's hottest features. It now has 250 million daily users, which far surpasses the numbers on Snapchat, and it also has Live video, which its rival lacks. It's not too surprising once you consider how hard Instagram has been pushing the Stories feature, plus Instagram's existing userbase probably helped propel its popularity too. If you're interested in checking the new photo / video reply feature in Stories, you can try it out with the new update starting today.
Instagram CEO downplays criticism that it copied Snapchat
If you've gotten Instagram and Snapchat confused recently, you'd be forgiven: Even Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom acknowledges that there are similarities between the two services. Instagram might have taken inspiration from Snapchat, but Systrom claims that there was no copying involved. "It would be crazy if we saw something that worked with consumers that was in our domain and we didn't decide to compete on it," Systrom told Recode. But the competition goes both ways, as he points out: Snapchat didn't originally have filters. "They adopted filters because Instagram had filters and a lot of others were trying to adopt filters as well. And you could have said the same thing at the time, 'We're copying each other,' but I don't know, that's just the way Silicon Valley works."
Instagram helps you hide unwanted photos instead of deleting them
That sloppy Instagram selfie from 2 AM on the walk home. That glut of ice coffee compositions. That once-happy vacation photo with your ex. There are no shortage of reasons to delete your old Instagram missives, whether it's to ensure consistency of your personal brand (ugh), broken hearts, or just old-fashioned shame. Now, however, there's another option -- well, if you're one of the early testers. Instagram is testing a new "archive" option in addition to the typical (still permanent) delete option.
700 million people are using Instagram
Instagram's Stories feature beating out all of Snapchat in terms of users is so two weeks ago. Now the photo-minded social network is crowing about hitting 700 million users in rapid fashion. Specifically, 100 million folks flocked to the app within the last four months alone. The last time Instagram gained 100 million new users it took six months, according to TechCrunch.
More people use Instagram Stories than Snapchat itself
The common belief is that Snapchat rules all when it comes to evaporating photo essays. But the numbers don't quite back it up. Instagram has announced that over 200 million people are using Stories every day to share quick moments from their lives -- almost 50 million more than Snapchat as a whole sees in an average day. Snapchat's 158 million count is from its IPO filing in February, but, the app's entire user-base cresting 200 million in two months seems pretty unlikely. Of course, 200 million is still only a third of Instagram's user-base, but those aren't bad numbers either considering the feature launched last August.
Instagram Stories now feature Snapchat-like geostickers
Snapchat gave users location-specific stickers for snaps back in August and now Instagram is doing the same. With a recent update to the photo-sharing app, you can now use geostickers to adorn images and videos in Instagram Stories. Right now though, the feature is only available in two cities: NYC and Jakarta. However, the company says that there are more than a dozen options for each locale.
Instagram Live Stories are going global this week
Since it announced a live streaming feature in November, Instagram has slowly been rolling out the service to its users in various parts of the world. Over the coming week, though, Instagrammers around the globe can begin to use the feature. So get ready to see streams from far-off places such as, oh, I don't know, Singapore.
Instagram's latest Stories feature is ads
Instagram shamelessly copied Snapchat last summer by introducing its own "Stories" feature, which lets users make bitesized, ephemeral scrapbooks of images and video. Since the launch, Instagram has added new ways to jazz up these Stories, as well as bringing live streaming into the mix. But it's time for the social network to pull another Snapchat move. Instagram has announced today that adverts are coming to Stories, because what's the point of having a neat feature over 150 million people use daily if you can't monetize it?
Disappearing videos are coming to a Bumble profile near you
The next way dating app Bumble is separating itself from Tinder is video. If you're familiar with Snapchat Stories or Instagram's ephemeral offerings, BumbleVID should sound be pretty recognizable. Users can make a story out of an unlimited amount of ten-second video clips from within the app. Anyone swiping past your profile can see them and after 24 hours, they disappear.
Instagram Stories gets stickers and forced holiday cheer
It doesn't look like Instagram will stop lifting features from Snapchat anytime soon. Today it's the addition of stickers in Instagram Stories (a feature which itself was a direct Snapchat copy) on iOS and Android. You'll be able to add stickers for things like the weather, your current location and the time in photos and videos that appear in your story. Yes, it's not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it's the sort of fun and irreverent thing that's made Snapchat more appealing to younger folks. Instagram (and Facebook) just want in on that action.
Instagram hits 600 million users as its growth speeds up
Instagram's growth isn't slowing down just because it reached the half-billion user mark... if anything, it's gathering steam. The image-centric social network reports that it now has over 600 million users, the last 100 million of which joined in the past 6 months. To put it another way, Instagram's growth is accelerating -- when it reported the 500 million figure, it had taken 9 months to garner the last 100 million. But what's creating this momentum?
WhatsApp is reportedly developing its own Snapchat clone
WhatsApp is reportedly working on an ephemeral photo-narrative feature that's in no way a rip-off of Snapchat. According to Mashable, the Facebook-owned messaging service is testing an image-sharing function called Status. The project was apparently uncovered by keen-eyed folks examining the most recent WhatsApp betas for iOS and Android. The plan appears to be that Status will slot in on the tab menu between Chats and Calls. There'll even be the ability to create doodles and add text captions just like... you know.
Instagram's suggested Stories are now available to everyone
If you've been scrounging for Instagram Stories to watch outside of the ones your friends make, you're in luck. After slipping Stories into the Explore tab for a limited number of users, it's now making the feature available to everyone. Visit the Explore tab and you'll see a section full of suggested stories that are personalized to your interests.
