The arrival this week of Facebook Stories presents active social media users with a dilemma: where to post?
It’s a problem of Facebook’s creation. For more than three years, the concept of “stories” — a rolling series of photos and videos that disappear 24 hours after you post them — was unique to Snapchat. In some ways, stories defined the company. But last year, Instagram copied the format — and since then, Facebook has introduced stories to Messenger, WhatsApp, and its flagship app, which is used by more than 1.15 billion people a day.
At this point, there’s no easy way to cross-post stories to multiple apps — though a Facebook product manager I spoke to said they wouldn’t rule out building one eventually. In the meantime, where do those fleeting photos and videos of your epic nights belong?
Where to those posts of your epic nights belong?
The easy answer is post wherever you have the most relevant group of friends. If you’re in college and all your friends breathe Snapchat like it’s oxygen, there’s little reason to move. If you’ve graduated and your squad lives on Instagram, turn your life into a series of Boomerangs.
But let’s say you’re more open-minded than that — or simply new to the stories format altogether. Here’s a concise guide of your options.
Snapchat Stories
Origin: October 2013
Vibe: life as a college party that never ends
What using suggests about you: you’re young; you’re ahead of the curve; you can master strange user interfaces
Cool factor: Bitmoji, which transform you and your friends into cartoon avatars, enliven any discussion
Use if: you love a good dog face filter; you don’t want Facebook to own all consumer communications on the internet
Instagram Stories
Origin: August 2016
Vibe: everyday moments transformed into lifestyle advertising
What using it suggests about you: you’re too old for Snapchat but too young for Facebook; you like Snapchat but can be more creative on Instagram
Too old for Snapchat but too young for Facebook
Cool factor: nifty text effects and drawing tools; Boomerangs turn out to be the perfect video format for stories
Use if: you want to reach a big audience with the richest creative tools available
WhatsApp Status
Origin: February 2017
Vibe: messages smuggled out of an Eastern European prison
What using it says about you: you have a lot of family overseas
Cool factor: Facebook spent $19 billion for this
Use if: your family just upgraded from feature phones
Facebook Messenger Day
Origin: March 2017
Vibe: anxious growth hacking
What using it says about you: you have a friend on the Messenger team and are doing them a solid
Anxious growth hacking
Cool factor: activity-based stickers designed to spark conversations about what you’re doing
Use if: you want to invite a friend to lunch without inviting a friend to lunch?
Facebook Stories
Origin: March 2017
Vibe: confident copycatting
What using it says about you: you’re basic, but not in a bad way
Cool factor: Instagram has better creative tools overall, but Facebook is spending a ton of money on custom animated filters you won’t find anywhere else
Use if: you’re spending an hour in the News Feed every day anyway and want to mix it up a little
Medium Series
Origin: March 2017
Vibe: Snapchat Stories meets Tumblr on the phone
What using it says about you: you want to add to a single, persistent story over time, such as “dogs I have loved” or “cops taking selfies”
Cool factor: currently does not require subscription to use
Use if: you miss the old Tumblr
Google Allo stories
Origin: currently theoretical
Presumed vibe: selfies augmented by machine learning
What using it suggests about you: you work at Google
Cool factor: currently exists only in the author’s mind
Use if: you are working on the alpha