Facebook has launched its new story-app last week, which allows users to post temporary pictures and short videos at the top of user-message boards similar to Snapchat and Instagram stories. However, this move has proved to be backfiring as a lot of social media audience are accusing Facebook of blatantly ripping off Snapchat stories as it tries to keep up with the platform. Moreover, due to lack of engagement, Facebook has started to introduce greyed-out photos of user’s friends which, when tapped, will trigger the prompt that that person hasn’t added to his/her stories recently. This was said to be better than leaving a blank-space as nobody’s actually posting any stories.
Then, why is no one using Facebook Stories? The answer I think can be answered with another question which is “Are they keeping up with the right platform?” From my point of view, I think Facebook and Snapchat are two different things with different functions. Snapchat is known for its simplicity with its only function is to share your daily lives with your friends through pictures and video clips viewable for a matter of seconds and disappears in 24 hours. On the other hand, Facebook is a general Social Networking Site with many different functions, photo and video sharing is just one of them. This is why Instagram stories is far-more successful, tolerable and popular to users as Instagram shares a similar simplicity nature as Snapchat in that it is exclusively used for sharing photos and videos.
To put it into a clearer and more humorous perspective, I exclusively use Facebook to keep up-to-date with the current news and affairs, which my friends have either shared or liked through Facebook. I also use it to laugh at memes, watch inspiring videos and get entertained by funny cat videos on the newsfeed. On the contrary, I use Instagram and Snapchat as my most powerful and convenient tools to satisfy my nosiness as it enables me to stalk my mates anytime I want. 😀
In conclusion, the illustration I gave above is why I think this Facebook Stories is a huge howler. Facebook thinks they are playing the same ball game as Snapchat and Instagram when in reality they are not. Facebook trying to keep up with Snapchat is like a dog trying to be a cat to me. Marketers around the world should always be aware of who their company is competing with so they keep up with the right and most appropriate trends in their industry. I hope you all get the idea I’m trying to put across today.
Please leave your thoughts and comments below, do you think Facebook Stories is a blunder caused by their failure to keep up with the right social media rivals? If so, who do you think they should be keeping a more close attention to instead of Snapchat?
Yoshua Blog 
Good post. I remember Instagram receiving a fair bit of backlash on social media when they implemented the story function as it was a blatant copy of Snapchat. With FaceBook now doing the same thing for a 3rd time failure was inevitable in my opinion. I think FaceBook should just drop the idea or come up with a unique substitute. Managing stories across 3 social media platforms is never going to work.
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Yes thank you for your comment! I agree! it’s just too many stories to manage, instead of enjoying the moment you’ll probably just end up being so occupied posting stories on these different platforms.
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Too many stories! When Instagram story was first launched, I was ready tired with opening both Instagram story and Snapchat. With Facebook in addition, I dont think many people are willing to update on 3 social media platforms (the same thing).
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I couldn’t agree more! It’s too many to manage and instead of enjoying your moments, you’ll end up wasting your time on posting these stories on different social media platforms. FB should have anticipated this better.
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