The Rise of the Story Format [Infographic]

For all the heat Snapchat gets today for not providing a strong business model, where would social media be today without the great mind of Evan Spiegel? Do you even remember what your social platforms looked like pre-Stories?

Back in October of 2013, Snapchat introduced a new format of sharing our lives with the world — Snapchat Stories. No longer was a snap a singular fleeting moment. Stories gave users the ability to share their snaps in a narrative format that friends could view as many times for up to 24 hours. We are all familiar with the concept today, but this was a monumental date in social media history. With this real-time documentary format, social media users became more raw, real and relatable – a huge plus for brands. 

A few years later, the other social networks caught on and adopted the Stories format. The infographic below displays the timeline of Stories being implemented on each platform as well as data gathered by Fastory in 2017.

Keep in mind a few of the user stats have changed over the past year. We have seen Instagram far surpass Snapchat in users. Of course, that doesn’t mean Instagram is better than Snapchat; there are major benefits to using Stories on either platform depending on your business goals. 

See the infographic below as a visual guide to the rise of the Story format on social media.