6 ms·

Instagram CEO on Stories: Don’t Call It a Copycat

55 points by kyleblarson 9y ago

DennisAleynikov 9y ago
"How do we get people on freebasics access to Snapchat? We make it ourselves of course!"
brlewis 9y ago
My favorite part due to its candor: WSJ: You seem to have thought about this a lot. Mr. Systrom: It's because I do a lot of these interviews where people ask a lot of these questions.
MengerSponge 9y ago
$SERVICE will now have stories is my favorite tech meme of the year. For example: https://twitter.com/OFFICIALTALLAL/status/848412009146331136 https://twitter.com/OFFICIALTALLAL/status/848412009146331136
an_account 9y ago
It's very obviously a copycat. That okay of course, but it's definitely a copycat.
sushid 9y ago
My favorite of the bunch: https://twitter.com/patrickswong/status/847116772499079168 https://twitter.com/patrickswong/status/847116772499079168
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
intrepidkarthi 9y ago
Let's call it as "Copydog" here after.
vadym909 9y ago
If you have no qualms about copying it- at least have the fucking balls to admit it. Don't hide behind Ford and the other automakers who btw copied Daimler.
mschuster91 9y ago
Hey Instagram, one thing: Stories need a way to filter out videos when on mobile, or at least prevent autoplay. Also, it sucks that one can only send "story" pictures in DMs now, which delete after 24h and you can't even download them after you send them, in contrast to the old "photo" send mode, where the images stayed in the conversation and were visible online.
- patmurraydev 9y ago
  I disagree with your first point, if you're using Instagram you're accepting it will be using a lot of data. Further, part of the thing that makes Stories a great feature is the smooth storytelling that would be lost if a "Download this video" button appeared. I completely agree with your second point however. Make it more like Snapchat and have both types of direct messages; ephemeral and permanent.
  - bschwindHN 9y ago
    > if you're using Instagram you're accepting it will be using a lot of data You're in favor of autoplay that can't be disabled?
    - mschuster91 9y ago
      > You're in favor of autoplay that can't be disabled? Especially not for fucking ads. Worst is: most Instagram videos are crapshoots. Low quality, high compression - typical for selfie videos. Which means they're tolerable. But story ads tend to be high-quality productions... requiring sometimes 10+MB. For reference: common smartphone data plans in Germany are 1-3 GB per month, for 10-30€. 5GB offers are rare and you won't get more than 10 even with expensive business packages.
      - kuschku 9y ago
        Can confirm this issue 1:1, I'm on a 150M plan for 4€ atm. Using the web is becoming a pain due to this waste of data, at least IRC still works.
bitmapbrother 9y ago
Where's HN Stories?
adhipg 9y ago
Tangentially relevant: https://github.com/ramon82/zuck.js https://github.com/ramon82/zuck.js On HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14135045 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14135045
segmondy 9y ago
I think Facebook's end goal with Instagram through their blatant and shameless copying is to signal to all newcomers, if you refuse to be acquired, they will crush you using the power of their existing market & network effects. If I have a startup that I do like to rid out for a long time and Facebook comes calling, I'm more likely to sell out and move on if I haven't won the market, rather than watch them crush me by copying my features and adding to their platform.
- devoply 9y ago
  ol billy g used to do the same thing. goog tried and failed.
- saurik 9y ago
  You do understand that all of Facebook is nothing more than a better executed "blatant and shameless copy" of MySpace, right? ...and that MySpace was nothing more than a better executed "blatant and shameless copy" of Friendster, right?
  - sevenfive 9y ago
    Internet was growing more then. Eventually growth stabilizes and whoever's on top gets locked in.
  - RickS 9y ago
    I think that does facebook a pretty severe disservice. Facebook was, in many ways, the anti-myspace at a time when that was a very welcome development. The lack of profile skinning, the real name policy, and by extension the reflection of an offline network (vs the band spam of myspace) made it a significantly different offering. I'd go so far as to say that the difference is what allowed them to coexist with myspace for so long. It's not as though they launched and then myspace promptly fell over. The two were side by side for years, the same way FB and snapchat are/were. Compared to that, the IG stories feature is a much more direct imitation. The geofilter and text implementation are so similar that, to anyone but a power user, a screenshot of a post from each would be indistinguishable. With that said, I can't say I'm mad to see snapchat in decline. They put pepsi ads between videos of people I care about. Straight to the dumpster with that.
weixiyen 9y ago
No shame in being Microsoft to Snap's Apple.
- intoverflow2 9y ago
  I understand that for a product like FB, but Instagram was well loved and certainly wasn't the Microsoft in any relationship until recently.
libeclipse 9y ago
It's fully a copycat, there's nothing else to call it. I mean I'm all for it, it was well-executed on Instagram. But past that was complete overkill. WhatsApp, really? I'm shown stories from everyone in my contact list, really? It's completely useless. And Facebook? For the love of God why?
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  Also, Facebook and messenger seem to have separate stories.
  - delfaras 9y ago
    The worst thing about messenger stories would be how they are force feeding it to you in the app ( I'm not sure they even show up on the web version). Example: http://i.imgur.com/aMruFbg.png http://i.imgur.com/aMruFbg.png Literally 30% of the screen is useful and the rest of bloated by some non-dismissable crap
    - dingo_bat 9y ago
      Mine is considerably better in that regard, for some reason: https://imgrpost.com/image/VB1i https://imgrpost.com/image/VB1i
- intoverflow2 9y ago
  > For the love of God why? Because Snap didn't accept the cheque, it's starting to feel like a personal vendetta. I find it hard to believe it being anything else I mean what's the alternative? That all 3 teams completely ran out of creativity at the same point and decided to clone the same features at the same time? Far more likely that these orders are coming down from the top.
  - corobo 9y ago
    The vendetta is starting to make vanilla Facebook annoying to use. I'm not sure if it's maybe because I'm left handed so all my swipes are with the wrong hand or something but I keep opening the damn camera while browsing Facebook now
imikay 9y ago
Whether it's copycat or not, it works.
intoverflow2 9y ago
Can't imagine how frustrating it must be to be in one of these teams working under the Snapchat-feature-clone product strategy of recent FB.
- alexandersingh 9y ago
  That probably depends on the narrative they're told and their propensity to believe it. "Copy this Snapchat feature" vs "Stories are a new storytelling medium" vs. "We need to do this because Snap is a grave threat and Facebook's survival depends on your work" are all very different narratives to sell to the team.

55 points by kyleblarson 9y ago

"How do we get people on freebasics access to Snapchat? We make it ourselves of course!"

My favorite part due to its candor: WSJ: You seem to have thought about this a lot. Mr. Systrom: It's because I do a lot of these interviews where people ask a lot of these questions.

MengerSponge 9y ago

$SERVICE will now have stories is my favorite tech meme of the year. For example: https://twitter.com/OFFICIALTALLAL/status/848412009146331136 https://twitter.com/OFFICIALTALLAL/status/848412009146331136

an_account 9y ago

It's very obviously a copycat. That okay of course, but it's definitely a copycat.

sushid 9y ago

My favorite of the bunch: https://twitter.com/patrickswong/status/847116772499079168 https://twitter.com/patrickswong/status/847116772499079168

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

intrepidkarthi 9y ago

Let's call it as "Copydog" here after.

vadym909 9y ago

If you have no qualms about copying it- at least have the fucking balls to admit it. Don't hide behind Ford and the other automakers who btw copied Daimler.

mschuster91 9y ago

Hey Instagram, one thing: Stories need a way to filter out videos when on mobile, or at least prevent autoplay. Also, it sucks that one can only send "story" pictures in DMs now, which delete after 24h and you can't even download them after you send them, in contrast to the old "photo" send mode, where the images stayed in the conversation and were visible online.

patmurraydev 9y ago
I disagree with your first point, if you're using Instagram you're accepting it will be using a lot of data. Further, part of the thing that makes Stories a great feature is the smooth storytelling that would be lost if a "Download this video" button appeared. I completely agree with your second point however. Make it more like Snapchat and have both types of direct messages; ephemeral and permanent.
- bschwindHN 9y ago
  > if you're using Instagram you're accepting it will be using a lot of data You're in favor of autoplay that can't be disabled?
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    > You're in favor of autoplay that can't be disabled? Especially not for fucking ads. Worst is: most Instagram videos are crapshoots. Low quality, high compression - typical for selfie videos. Which means they're tolerable. But story ads tend to be high-quality productions... requiring sometimes 10+MB. For reference: common smartphone data plans in Germany are 1-3 GB per month, for 10-30€. 5GB offers are rare and you won't get more than 10 even with expensive business packages.
    - kuschku 9y ago
      Can confirm this issue 1:1, I'm on a 150M plan for 4€ atm. Using the web is becoming a pain due to this waste of data, at least IRC still works.

bitmapbrother 9y ago

Where's HN Stories?

adhipg 9y ago

Tangentially relevant: https://github.com/ramon82/zuck.js https://github.com/ramon82/zuck.js On HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14135045 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14135045

segmondy 9y ago

I think Facebook's end goal with Instagram through their blatant and shameless copying is to signal to all newcomers, if you refuse to be acquired, they will crush you using the power of their existing market & network effects. If I have a startup that I do like to rid out for a long time and Facebook comes calling, I'm more likely to sell out and move on if I haven't won the market, rather than watch them crush me by copying my features and adding to their platform.

devoply 9y ago
ol billy g used to do the same thing. goog tried and failed.
saurik 9y ago
You do understand that all of Facebook is nothing more than a better executed "blatant and shameless copy" of MySpace, right? ...and that MySpace was nothing more than a better executed "blatant and shameless copy" of Friendster, right?
- sevenfive 9y ago
  Internet was growing more then. Eventually growth stabilizes and whoever's on top gets locked in.
- RickS 9y ago
  I think that does facebook a pretty severe disservice. Facebook was, in many ways, the anti-myspace at a time when that was a very welcome development. The lack of profile skinning, the real name policy, and by extension the reflection of an offline network (vs the band spam of myspace) made it a significantly different offering. I'd go so far as to say that the difference is what allowed them to coexist with myspace for so long. It's not as though they launched and then myspace promptly fell over. The two were side by side for years, the same way FB and snapchat are/were. Compared to that, the IG stories feature is a much more direct imitation. The geofilter and text implementation are so similar that, to anyone but a power user, a screenshot of a post from each would be indistinguishable. With that said, I can't say I'm mad to see snapchat in decline. They put pepsi ads between videos of people I care about. Straight to the dumpster with that.

weixiyen 9y ago

No shame in being Microsoft to Snap's Apple.

intoverflow2 9y ago
I understand that for a product like FB, but Instagram was well loved and certainly wasn't the Microsoft in any relationship until recently.

libeclipse 9y ago

It's fully a copycat, there's nothing else to call it. I mean I'm all for it, it was well-executed on Instagram. But past that was complete overkill. WhatsApp, really? I'm shown stories from everyone in my contact list, really? It's completely useless. And Facebook? For the love of God why?

dingo_bat 9y ago
Also, Facebook and messenger seem to have separate stories.
- delfaras 9y ago
  The worst thing about messenger stories would be how they are force feeding it to you in the app ( I'm not sure they even show up on the web version). Example: http://i.imgur.com/aMruFbg.png http://i.imgur.com/aMruFbg.png Literally 30% of the screen is useful and the rest of bloated by some non-dismissable crap
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    Mine is considerably better in that regard, for some reason: https://imgrpost.com/image/VB1i https://imgrpost.com/image/VB1i
intoverflow2 9y ago
> For the love of God why? Because Snap didn't accept the cheque, it's starting to feel like a personal vendetta. I find it hard to believe it being anything else I mean what's the alternative? That all 3 teams completely ran out of creativity at the same point and decided to clone the same features at the same time? Far more likely that these orders are coming down from the top.
- corobo 9y ago
  The vendetta is starting to make vanilla Facebook annoying to use. I'm not sure if it's maybe because I'm left handed so all my swipes are with the wrong hand or something but I keep opening the damn camera while browsing Facebook now

imikay 9y ago

Whether it's copycat or not, it works.

intoverflow2 9y ago

Can't imagine how frustrating it must be to be in one of these teams working under the Snapchat-feature-clone product strategy of recent FB.

alexandersingh 9y ago
That probably depends on the narrative they're told and their propensity to believe it. "Copy this Snapchat feature" vs "Stories are a new storytelling medium" vs. "We need to do this because Snap is a grave threat and Facebook's survival depends on your work" are all very different narratives to sell to the team.