
The one thing you’d almost never hear of is an entrepreneur admitting that they copied someone else. Earlier yesterday, Instagram introduced Instagram Stories. Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom, vaguely referred to “competitors” and acknowledged that “other companies deserve all the credit” for popularizing disappearing photos and videos. He realised that many users resort to Instagram to portray their photographic talent, or a place to share highlights, rather than a continuous flow of updates in the same day.
Instagram now allows users to share photos and videos that last for no longer than 24 hours with their followers. In a blog post on Tuesday, Instagram stated that the new feature allows its 500 million members to embellish their posts with emojis, doodles, filters and texts. When creating doodles you have an option to choose from three kinds of brushes – A glow brush, chisel and the normal brush. You can also scroll through different brush sizes.
Through Instagram Stories, followers can send direct messages to the uploader. Users can choose to make their stories public or private, and can determine whether they want only a subsection of their followers to view them.
Instagram’s head of Product Kevin Weil said, “People want more flexibility to share the moments between their highlights.” The brief nature of Stories makes it easier to share something without it becoming part of one’s permanent record, he explained. “You don’t have to worry about over-posting. Instead, you can share as much as you want throughout the day — with as much creativity as you want.”
“It’s all about can you connect with people all around the world and learn about new ideas, new cultures, break down barriers?’” Systrom claims. “We like to say Instagram makes the world feel simultaneously large, in the sense that you can connect with anyone, and very small in the sense that you’re right there with them.”
Instagram Stories are rolling out the update to iOS and Android users worldwide over the next few days.
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