Back in August, Instagram announced a new feature called Stories. Similar to their counterparts on Snapchat, Instagram stories allow users to create a “slideshow” of images and/or videos that is viewable for 24 hours before disappearing.
Last week, we (@rutgerslibraries on Instagram) published our first story to help promote the New Brunswick Music Scene Archive anniversary panel and exhibit. Following are some reflections after our first foray into using this new feature.
Pros
- As is suggested by their name, stories allow you to shape a narrative around your subject in a way that a single image or video may not.
- Much like Snapchat stories, Instagram stories are well-suited to capturing action as it is happening. This allows you to leverage the “fear of missing out” to generate excitement around your programming.
- When you post or update a story, your account appears in a list that runs across top of others’ Instagram feeds. This extra visibility is a welcome boon given recent changes to the platform’s timeline algorithm.
- You can experiment with the story-based approach to social media without having to build a new audience from scratch on a different platform.
Cons
- While you can download your story content to your camera roll as it is published, the preferred portrait orientation makes it difficult to repurpose your content elsewhere. Shooting in landscape orientation requires your viewers to either turn their heads awkwardly or rotate their phones, an inconvenience that puts your content at risk of being skipped over.
- The 10 second limit on video clips presents some challenges. For example, a speaker’s comments can easily run over and get cut off, necessitating additional takes.
- Viewing statistics disappear along with the image or video they are attached to, complicating assessment.
- Instagram’s story editing tools (basic text and drawing) are limited compared to Snapchat’s, especially its robust filter system.
Next Steps
- Identifying more story opportunities to allow for additional testing. (If you have any ideas, please get in touch!)
- Incorporating stories into the Instagram content schedule.
- Formalizing the procedure for recording and reporting story viewing statistics.
