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What's funny about this thread is it's almost all people complaining about dev experience, APIs, etc and saying IG is dead... Meanwhile their customers are ver

What's funny about this thread is it's almost all people complaining about dev experience, APIs, etc and saying IG is dead... Meanwhile their customers are very happy and very active. Look at how many snaps you see on your snapchat right now and then go look at how many IG stories have already been posted in the first couple hours. I'd say that was a successful launch. Nit picking things, as a developer, i understand... but ultimately what matters is: are customers using it? Right now the answer is, without a doubt, yes. Thousands (Millions?) are debating deleting their snapchats at this very moment. I know I am. IG did a great job getting a whole lot of activity back on their app. Congrats to them.

dtien 10y ago
I agree, seems to be a lot of anger/hate on the developer side of things, but it's a smart move on IG's side from a user and business strategy perspective. I was having a similar discussion with someone else on a duplicate of this post, so thought I'd share some of my thoughts here as well since they're especially relevant to your comment. The general point of the prior discussion was that IG was simply cloning SC, and might do better by releasing it as a separate app vs inside their main app. But by releasing it within their main app will result in certain failure since SC's crowd of tweens/millennials wouldn't leave SC. [my responses with minor edits] I disagree, I think integrating it with their main product is the perfect way to release this. Just look at Periscope ( and Vine ) living as separate products from Twitter, vs FB releasing FB Live deeply embedded into their primary product. The likelihood of the mainstream user's willingness to try out and adopt the new product/feature is increased. And in this case, I think all the additional features that comes with IG Stories is actually very cohesive with the rest of IG's core experience. All the new stickers, overlays, filters, and I'm sure they'll be adding the same animated video filters are all very natural extensions of the IG user experience. So many people use Snapchat as a photo/filter editor to then share on IG/Twitter/FB, now they can do that very same experience directly in IG and share it with their existing fans. And maybe an overlooked aspect is IG's better UX vs snapchat's bizarre stubbornness to maintain their user antagonistic UX. But I think it's just as telling with SC's recent spate of features that are moving away from the ephemeral nature of the app ( ie Memories ). Where you can store or save Snaps or Stories.... oh you mean sort of like a personal gallery? And now you want to view a collection of the latest/most popular collected snaps from your friends? oh you mean like a newsfeed? Bottom line is that the photo/messaging apps are converging. And I don't think there's necessarily any loyalty to a particular platform especially if they have very similar features. The crowd will move to the platform where their friends are, and where the celebs/bloggers/artists/influencers are. And IMO I think IG has a slight advantage with that group at this point because of the non-ephemeral nature of their app which led/leads more naturally to those types building their 'brand' and following. Nobody wants to spend hours and energy creating content that simply disappears. But these types have followed the crowd onto SC and lived by the SC rules, but I'd have to believe they would prefer the other model if they had a choice. So I guess what I'm saying is that these 2 apps are converging to the same point, albeit from different ends of the spectrum with differing pressures. And once they reach a certain level of parity, loyalty to a platform goes out the window, and being able to capture the cool kids and influencers will be the key to where the rest of the crowd goes. So I don't think it's 'certain failure' from IG's point of view, and certainly still anyone's game.
- justindocanto 10y ago
  Your comment deserve a longer response, but i have to leave the office shortly. My short reply is... I agree that staying within the app is a win. The overall mood seems to be "yes, one less app i have to use now..." I don't keep apps I dont need or use, and a lot of people feel the same way. I dont want YET ANOTHER social networking app. This app feels like snapchat and IG merged, except in reality, IG just stole a lot of Snapchats thunder/users.
tedmiston 10y ago
By customer, are you referring to (free) consumers or business that pay IG for advertising? Looking at the latest update of Instagram (v9.0 on iOS), the Stories feature does not seem to be accessible for my account to try it. The post makes it sound like no one has it yet: > Instagram Stories will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on iOS and Android.
- justindocanto 10y ago
  By customer, i meant users. By users, I mean the people who spend time on the app and are the reason there are advertisers and/or a business in the first place. Regardless of what the post says to you, people have it and are already posting a LOT. Vogue already has anna wintour in multiple posts on their IG story. Brands already are posting. A lot of the vine/snapchat "stars" are already 20-30+ posts deep. I see fashion bloggers, tech writers, etc. A lot of people are already using it.

dtien 10y ago

I agree, seems to be a lot of anger/hate on the developer side of things, but it's a smart move on IG's side from a user and business strategy perspective. I was having a similar discussion with someone else on a duplicate of this post, so thought I'd share some of my thoughts here as well since they're especially relevant to your comment. The general point of the prior discussion was that IG was simply cloning SC, and might do better by releasing it as a separate app vs inside their main app. But by releasing it within their main app will result in certain failure since SC's crowd of tweens/millennials wouldn't leave SC. [my responses with minor edits] I disagree, I think integrating it with their main product is the perfect way to release this. Just look at Periscope ( and Vine ) living as separate products from Twitter, vs FB releasing FB Live deeply embedded into their primary product. The likelihood of the mainstream user's willingness to try out and adopt the new product/feature is increased. And in this case, I think all the additional features that comes with IG Stories is actually very cohesive with the rest of IG's core experience. All the new stickers, overlays, filters, and I'm sure they'll be adding the same animated video filters are all very natural extensions of the IG user experience. So many people use Snapchat as a photo/filter editor to then share on IG/Twitter/FB, now they can do that very same experience directly in IG and share it with their existing fans. And maybe an overlooked aspect is IG's better UX vs snapchat's bizarre stubbornness to maintain their user antagonistic UX. But I think it's just as telling with SC's recent spate of features that are moving away from the ephemeral nature of the app ( ie Memories ). Where you can store or save Snaps or Stories.... oh you mean sort of like a personal gallery? And now you want to view a collection of the latest/most popular collected snaps from your friends? oh you mean like a newsfeed? Bottom line is that the photo/messaging apps are converging. And I don't think there's necessarily any loyalty to a particular platform especially if they have very similar features. The crowd will move to the platform where their friends are, and where the celebs/bloggers/artists/influencers are. And IMO I think IG has a slight advantage with that group at this point because of the non-ephemeral nature of their app which led/leads more naturally to those types building their 'brand' and following. Nobody wants to spend hours and energy creating content that simply disappears. But these types have followed the crowd onto SC and lived by the SC rules, but I'd have to believe they would prefer the other model if they had a choice. So I guess what I'm saying is that these 2 apps are converging to the same point, albeit from different ends of the spectrum with differing pressures. And once they reach a certain level of parity, loyalty to a platform goes out the window, and being able to capture the cool kids and influencers will be the key to where the rest of the crowd goes. So I don't think it's 'certain failure' from IG's point of view, and certainly still anyone's game.

justindocanto 10y ago
Your comment deserve a longer response, but i have to leave the office shortly. My short reply is... I agree that staying within the app is a win. The overall mood seems to be "yes, one less app i have to use now..." I don't keep apps I dont need or use, and a lot of people feel the same way. I dont want YET ANOTHER social networking app. This app feels like snapchat and IG merged, except in reality, IG just stole a lot of Snapchats thunder/users.

tedmiston 10y ago

By customer, are you referring to (free) consumers or business that pay IG for advertising? Looking at the latest update of Instagram (v9.0 on iOS), the Stories feature does not seem to be accessible for my account to try it. The post makes it sound like no one has it yet: > Instagram Stories will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on iOS and Android.

justindocanto 10y ago
By customer, i meant users. By users, I mean the people who spend time on the app and are the reason there are advertisers and/or a business in the first place. Regardless of what the post says to you, people have it and are already posting a LOT. Vogue already has anna wintour in multiple posts on their IG story. Brands already are posting. A lot of the vine/snapchat "stars" are already 20-30+ posts deep. I see fashion bloggers, tech writers, etc. A lot of people are already using it.