Stories Spread and Twitter Ends the Egg

First it was Snapchat. Then it was Instagram. Then they infiltrated Messenger and WhatsApp. And now, inevitably, stories have made it to Facebook, whether we want them or not.

Just like in other apps, Facebook stories only stick around for 24 hours, and you can decorate them with an assortment of stickers and sketches and filters. The Verge has a thorough write-up of all the features, including a pretty convincing argument that for now, stories will bring back that friend-to-friend connection that made Facebook so appealing to begin with.

In a fun bit of irony, while Facebook is shamelessly copying Snapchat  adding new consumer-centric features, Digiday complains that Snapchat is getting too much like Facebook. Their charge is that Snapchat Discover has gone from unique curated content to the same old clickbait on celebs we’re trying to avoid everywhere. And Snap did throw some shade back with a fake Instagram filter for April Fools’ Day.

In much smaller news, Facebook added a handy-dandy GIF button to replies on posts. It works just like the GIF feature on Twitter does, adding to my sense of social media déjà vu.

Speaking of Twitter, here’s a change that shakes things up: Twitter has killed the egg. That iconic avatar that indicated new accounts will now be replaced with a generic humanoid figure that looks pretty similar to what I see on Skype.

That Fast Co.Design link has an interesting read on the design language and logic that went into it. Mostly, it has been met with a great rolling of eyes. After all, if your entire reason to use Twitter is to troll, is the changing icon really going to slow you down….especially if you’re not even human?

About the author:
Tara Saylor is a communications manager by day, grad student by night and curious all the time. She is also a web nerd and recovering copywriter. Tara focuses on the channels that enable communication and using metrics to improve communication effectiveness.