Instagram co-founders subtly admit they copied Snapchat Stories feature

When Instagram launched its Stories feature three years ago, it was criticized of copying rival Snapchat. Now, Instagram co-founders have revealed that they actually did take inspiration from Snapchat to launch their own version of Stories.

At the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival on Monday, Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger told Tech Crunch about what led to add Instagram Stories. Though he said their desire at that time was to ‘increase authenticity’ and capture moments of life, there was also one more factor.

“For a long time, people’s profiles were filled with Snapchat links,” Systrom said. “It was clear people were trying to bridge the two products. So we gave them what they wanted.”

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As per Mashable, Systrom recounted that before Instagram added Stories in 2016, and after Snapchat launched Stories in 2013, people used to post links to their Snapchat stories on their Instagram feed. This showed what Instagram users ‘wanted’ and so the founders gave them that by copying their rival.

Moreover, the pair also talked about when they sold their app to Facebook back in 2012. They said that the acquisition only helped users by letting Instagram expand as fast as it did, reported The Verge.  “I think [Instagram’s size] is a strong argument that the acquisition helped users,” Systrom added.

Both the co-founders resigned from the firm last September. Systrom concluded, “I think for Instagram to get to the stage that it did is an incredible thing for the world and an incredible thing for users.”