Should we design a new feature? How about… Stories?
When Snapchat first came out, it was revolutionary. Dog faces were everywhere, and I was so obsessed with getting Snapstreaks. Then came Instagram stories (major Ewww in 2010. Who’s going to use stories when there is Snap?) But somehow, people did. Following their success, WhatsApp, Youtube, Twitter, and even LinkedIn followed suit, adding some form of short, disappearing, time-limited video/photo series to their interface. Every single time it happens, the world frowns: “Why do we need stories in every single media platform? I don’t want to see everyone’s lives 5 times over.”. It’s time to do some unpacking. Why are stories everywhere, and how do they differ by purpose or design?
Why stories? It’s good for business.
For starters, these platforms earn through paid advertising and data collection. The more people stay on the site, the better it is for business. Traffic brings eyeballs, which leads to more advertisement earnings and more data collected. The nature of stories being authentic, day-to-day recordings of a person’s life that is only available for 24 hours makes users go back several times a day to watch, scroll and engage with others on the platform. The format of stories is also very consumable and easy to mindlessly scroll through.
As stories are not permanent and will not affect a person’s long-term image, more users are incentivised to create content as well. Its short nature also requires less effort from the creator to create and publish.
More creators lead to more viewers on the platform and more audiences lead to more creators. This is called indirect network effects for two-sided marketplaces or platforms. Understand now why everyone's hopping on the bandwagon? Let’s dive deep into each platform and its purpose. Let’s look at the more interesting ones: Youtube, Whatsapp and Twitter.
Twitter Fleets: The one where everyone went: Huh?!
Launched in 2020 in a midst of a global pandemic, the world raised an eyebrow at “Fleets”, Twitter’s new short content feature. According to the product team, fleets’ purpose is to increase content creation and engagement on the platform. They noticed that too many tweets end up in drafts, and there is a lot of social pressure to get likes and retweets. Fleets, which also disappears in 24 hours, fits perfectly into the grand scheme of things. One is allowed to create text or graphics-based fleets, and also fleet their reaction to tweets.
As a predominantly text-based platform, viewers cannot put a face to the tweets. Hence, rapport building between creator and viewers is not enforced and the Twitter community is not as up close and personal. With fleets, each individual may create more consistent content that is more colourful and graphical, putting the focus on the creator’s emotion. Twitter can potentially create a close-knit ecosystem, achieving higher retention.
From the screen capture from above, we can see that Twitter has made it insanely easy to create a fleet, with text and background adding features at the bottom of the screen, where it is easier to access. A huge thumbs up to the alternative text feature at the bottom right for inclusivity. You are also prompted to “add” a new fleet at the end of your series of fleets as seen in the right screen capture. The only complaint I have is the inaccessible positioning of the final action button, which is the most crucial to achieving Twitters goals and should be easily reachable.
WhatsApp status: The one where no one around you uses.
As you can tell from my WhatsApp screen grab above, no one in my circle uses it. The purpose of WhatsApp status is, literally, a way to update others on your current status so that others know when is the right time to reach you. For example, if my status was “at the gym”, people should know that I may not be contactable for at least an hour.
WhatsApp is quite different from the other platforms, as it is not purely entertainment. It is a way for one to contact another, be it for fun or work. WhatsApp status serves as an easy way to update their contacts in a fun or serious way, depending on the need. However, precisely because most people’s contacts are a mix of formal and informal, it is difficult for a person to fully immerse in mindless content creation and build an active community like Instagram’s. What happens if you had a pint during a work-from-home session and you posted that on WhatsApp? Jokes on you.
The experience is also slightly strange. Tapping my profile picture on the top left prompts me to add a picture to my status. The only way to add a text-based status is through the pencil icon on the bottom right. In terms of accessibility, having floating icons at the bottom right prompts the user to create. Perhaps WhatsApp wants more people to post graphics rather than text.
Youtube story: The one where you can’t find.
Launched in 2020, Youtube story is one tough monkey. As it only shows on the Youtuber’s channel, it took me a long while to find one. Previously it was available on the homepage, but not anymore after the recent update. Its position on the homepage has since been replaced by Youtube shorts, a TikTok similar feature that features an infinite scroll of permanent, short videos by subscribed and new YouTubers (can’t wait to see how this goes!).
Most YouTubers don’t post daily, and hence retention on the channel may be low. Adding stories allow continuous engagement with one’s fanbase. An interesting feature that is atypical of typical social media stories is the comment section. As Youtube viewers form a community around the creator, the comment section will be highly valuable for showcasing a certain creator community and engage new subscribers.
In addition to being personal and authentic, stories is an intimate feature. It is for viewers who know / kind of know the creator to know them more on a personal level. It is a good way to engage with existing and converting fans, pulling them into a deep community eco-system. In contrast, Youtube shorts function like TikTok and is a discovery feature for viewers.
Stories are great for business when used wisely
As you can tell by now, each platform has its reasons for bringing in stories:
- Twitter: to encourage content creation and more personal engagement beyond text
- WhatsApp: a fun engaging way to update contacts on their status
- Youtube: to reinforce community building and fan loyalty through daily interaction
In short, stories is a wildly successful feature that is heavily replicated for the same purpose: community. All platforms want traffic, and organic traffic is only brought forth by a close-knit social group who will come back willingly. This is similar to an article I wrote previously regarding Kuaishou and its community-focused design. Moreover, though these features may not be performing in your country, that does not mean it is not performing globally. For example, Twitter first tested fleets in India and Brazil, where it was well-received. Considering India’s high population of 1.36 billion with only 17.5 million audiences on Twitter, fleet’s popularity may spring it to greater heights.
Seems like these new features are not just a rip-off. Only time can tell.
*Thanks for reading! I’ve just started writing on topics I love and products I want to explore. I am still fresh blood in the product space and super open to feedback and opinions. Do drop me an email at alexis.liu.yuchen@gmail.com
