The stories (r)evolution

[bappy8]

Photos and videos allow us to share fun and fleeting moments of our lives with our friends without having to sum them up in a sentence.

The success of stories lies in how easy they are to create and consume. With a few taps and swipes, you can create and share moments of your day. Stories allow us to share exciting moments of our lives in that moment. And where we used to post one highlight of our day on our newsfeed, we now share an entire story in a 24-hour period. The ephemeral nature of stories also makes them desirable again: 'I have to watch them now because in 24 hours they will be gone forever.'

And where one starts, of course everyone follows. After Snapchat and Instagram, WhatsApp,fax lists Facebook and recently even Twitter with 'Moments' follow.

When Instagram suddenly started with 'stories', it initially seemed like it was just stolen from Snapchat. 'Oh, those stories work well on Snapchat, let's copy them.' But we soon discovered that it is much more than that. I am convinced that we are currently in a huge development: stories are the new way of how we create and share content.

infographic social media buffer
Infographic embedded via Buffer

I am convinced that we are currently in a huge development: stories are the new way of how we create and share content.

The future of social media will no longer be about sharing the perfect moments, retweets and how many people like your content. It will go much further than that: how many followers view your stories every day, how many followers share that content with their friends and how we use storytelling to gain empathy through shared experiences. User generated content has always been valuable to brands, but with stories we take it a step further. Now anyone can create and share unique content.