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Some users can now share stories from Facebook on Instagram, as Zuckerberg’s tech titan tests out new merging features.
Let’s be honest, who uses Facebook stories? Aside from dodgy advertisements and small announcements from bands and artists, very few of us ever post anything personal on them.
This is not the case with Instagram, however, which sees 500 million people use its stories feature every single day. My timeline is constantly flooded with posts from friends and company advertisements, and it seems that Facebook is keen to chase this popularity and migrate some of that attention across both apps.
According to TechCrunch, Facebook has begun testing cross-posting features for Facebook stories, which means they can now appear on Instagram if you opt in. It’s another indication that Facebook wants to associate itself closer with its other platforms, most notably WhatsApp and Instagram, which are more popular with millennials and Gen Zers.
Previously, users were only able to post Instagram stories to Facebook – but not the other way around. Increased fluidity between both services is probably a push to get more teens and young adults actually using Messenger and its extended features. We’ve already seen Facebook insert its branding onto Instagram’s landing pages and user interfaces in recent years, so it’s not completely out of the question to expect this trend to continue moving forward.
Keep in mind that Zuckerberg is also still planning to merge all three services – WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram – into a single framework. They won’t all become one app, but the technical infrastructure for each of the three will be unified. So, Facebook testing its story usability on Instagram should come as no surprise. We could easily see similar tests happening across WhatsApp in the near future.
Time will tell if all this will increase Facebook stories’ popularity – for now I’ll probably stick to keeping things exclusively on Instagram.
