Instagram Blatantly Copies Snapchat With It’s New ‘Instagram Stories’ Feature

Instagram have seen the rapid success of Snapchat and decided they want a piece of the action. Today, the photo sharing app has introduced ‘Instagram Stories’, a new feature that lets you “share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile”.

The app, which is backed by Facebook says that you’ll be able to share multiple photos and videos as ‘your story’ and that these will appear together in a slideshow format. The Instagram blog says that it wants people to share as much as they want throughout the day with the photos and videos disappearing after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile grid or in the feed.

Sound familiar? Still not convinced, take a look at the strikingly similar user shots below:

Facebook has a history of ripping off other great ideas and the CEO of Instagram, Kevin Systrom admits that Snapchat pioneered this format. In an interview published by TechCrunch, he said they deserved the credit. Systrom says,

“When you are an innovator, that’s awesome. Just like Instagram deserves all the credit for bringing filters to the forefront. This isn’t about who invented something. This is about a format, and how you take it to a network and put your own spin on it.”

Similarly to Snapchat, users will see stories from people they follow in a bar at the top of the feed (image on the left above). When there’s something new to see, a mates profile pic will have a colorful ring around it.

If you want to comment on something you see, you can tap and send a private message to that person on Instagram Direct. Unlike regular posts, there are no likes or public comments.

Instagram Stories will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on iOS and Android. Keep an eye out for the update and even more annoying notifications.