Instagram Stories are already bigger than Snapchat itself. And now Instagram is planning to gain even more market share, by going where Snapchat simply cannot: your desktop.
With the first rollout, desktop and mobile web users will be able to view Stories posted by the people they follow. But in the following months, Instagram will also let you post Stories directly from the web.
Instagram Stories are already a huge success. What was once a blatant copycat of Snapchat, has grown bigger than its rival, with over 250 million users every day – Snapchat currently reports only 173 million daily users. Becoming available on desktop can only have a positive growth impact on the Instagram Stories. In fact, with 80% of its users based outside of the U.S., the company believes that the web version of Stories will gain serious momentum, and can generate a positive impact on the platform’s advertising revenue.
For users, it’s all positive. Instagram notes that businesses that share Stories on its platform are more likely to generate online conversions: 1 in 5 Instagram Stories posted by a business receives a Direct Message reply.
Instagram Stories have started rolling out to the web, but it might be a few weeks before you get access to it. Also, posting to Stories is not yet available, but should be released in the months ahead.
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