Why Are Traditional Social Media Outlets Copying Snapchat?

For people that have been social media users since 2013, you may remember a time where Snapchat was the lone platform that could be used to post ‘stories’. Stories are 24-hour long posts that are uploaded by users to show snippets of day-to-day life. In 2016, three years later – popular social media app Instagram, launched their own ‘stories’ feature followed by Facebook in 2017, further followed by YouTube in 2018. I remember hearing about this ‘domino’ effect and wondering why basically every other platform I used now had stories – in this blog I will uncover the psychology behind it.

Several experts, including Jonah Burger, have uncovered the power of word-of-mouth marketing and how people always share things online with a purpose. It has been discovered that the fundamental motivation for sharing snippets of our lives with others online, is simply to position ourselves to look good to others. Whether this be a story of a new outfit, a trendy cafe or a cute pet photo, humans gain what is called ‘social currency‘.

A weakness established in traditional ‘push’ marketing, that is eliminated in word-of-mouth marketing is the lack of trust established between consumer and product. When we use stories to showcase our ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ lives, our friends and family are psychologically more likely to be alert to what we are posting, in comparison to ads which pop up all over our feeds.

So back to our initial question: Why would traditional social media platforms jump on board the ‘stories’ feature? The answer is simple, to provide users with a platform to be more personal with their posting. When we allow users to be more personal with their content shared online, we are facilitating word-of-mouth marketing.

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat recently spoke to Recode about trends in social media and the change in Facebook that led them to adopting stories. He talks about the philosophy of Snapchat as a method to building more meaningful connections with friends and family.

What are your thoughts on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube copying Snapchat’s infamous stories feature? Isn’t it interesting how a feature designed to strengthen relationships is now being utilised for WOM marketing? Comment below your thoughts…