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Instagram's Snapchat Clone Is Now More Popular Than Snapchat -- and It's Only 8 Months Old (cnbc.com)

Facebook's top Snapchat clone Instagram Stories has hit 200 million daily active users, surpassing the last count of 161 million that Snapchat announced alongside its IPO. Instagram Stories launched in August, hit 100 million dailies in October, and 150 million in January, so it's hardly slowing as it grows. Meanwhile, Instagram is getting faster at copying even Snapchat's most technologically advanced features with a series of global iOS and Android updates. A report adds: Along with this announcement, Facebook is introducing new 'sticker' tools for Instagram, to make it a more appealing alternative to Snapchat, and more engaging for its users. Now Instagram's users can turn their selfies into stickers, which they'll be able to easily share, or pin within a video. The app is also launching new Geostickers for Chicago, London, Madrid and Tokyo to apply over photos. The stickers have been designed by artists from the respective cities, enabling users to tap to learn more about the art.

31 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. BULLSHIT by darkain · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As an active user of NORMAL Instagram, I'm going to call absolute total bullshit on this. This is just like how Facebook tried to claim their video service was more popular than YouTube because they set videos to auto-play on the feed AND auto-loop, artificially inflating their view counts. With Instagram now, if you tap on someone's user icon in the normal feed, it'll take you to their stories instead of their profile. This artificially inflates their "stories" user count by taking people to a place they never wanted to go to in the first place (stories vs viewing someone's profile)

    1. Re:BULLSHIT by chispito · · Score: 1

      I'm beginning to think msmash has stock in Snapchat.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    2. Re:BULLSHIT by cloud.pt · · Score: 2

      Well, since there's absolutely no way I can disable stories, both in Facebook, Facebook for Android and Messenger for Android, I can really see them selling this to advertisers:

      "Hey, we have this new feature that engages users to . Furthermore our 7B user-base is adhering so much we have already surpassed Snapchat. You can purchase ad-space on Facebook for just and you also get access to our random FB marketeering crap"

    3. Re:BULLSHIT by cloud.pt · · Score: 1

      well apparently a lot of my comment was eaten by my usage of larger/smaller operators. I thought I had this set to plaintext :(

    4. Re:BULLSHIT by jediborg · · Score: 1

      This is why i love slashdot so much. The communities bullshit radar is spot on, thank you for your service!

    5. Re: BULLSHIT by WarJolt · · Score: 1

      I don't feel the need to use snapchat or any clone thereof. I find the whole concept bullshit.

    6. Re: BULLSHIT by mccrew · · Score: 1
      --
      Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
  2. What's an "active" user? by Solandri · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Are they counting people who actually use the service to type and receive personal messages? Or is it like Instagram where it constantly receives feeds from people you don't know in the background? I had to use TitaniumBackup to freeze Instagram because it was sucking up so much battery life, and I only used it once every few weeks to catch up with my sister's family photos.

    1. Re:What's an "active" user? by cloud.pt · · Score: 2

      They are probably counting people forced to see "My Day", aka Stories on top of everything they actually want to use, without the possibility to remove it. I will gladly send 5 bucks (or whatever premium beer costs around where you live as long as you make your case) via PP to anyone that knows a setting that disables it in both Messenge and Facebook for Android (no older version install included, and Facebook employees are also excluded for good measure).

  3. So what is it? Bing, Netscape or Lotus123 by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2

    That story claims Facebook is following Microsoft trajectory. The question is where is it in the trajectory? Lotus123 vs Excel or Wordperfect vs Word, Netscape vs Internet Explorer, Google vs Bing ....

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:So what is it? Bing, Netscape or Lotus123 by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Its almost like finding out market analysts opinions about technology are really dumb, who knew.

  4. Unfair Comparison? (Among other things) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Isn't this a bit like saying that Microsoft Paint is more popular than Photoshop by an order of magnitude?

    1. Re:Unfair Comparison? (Among other things) by ThePawArmy · · Score: 1

      Well, it is installed on more computers then Photoshop.

  5. I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery tool by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 3, Funny

    Snapgram, instachat, chatomatic, picsnap, instasnap, whatsnapp, snappychat, papchat, snappysnappychatchat, chittychittybangbang, fuckitall-o-matic.

  6. Re:161M probably inflated too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well I heard if u can get a grils snap, she will send you titty pics. Can u get the titties on this insta thing?

  7. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 1

    No kidding. Some of us use the internet to do actual things instead of finding novel ways of staring in the mirror.

  8. Competition by Wowsers · · Score: 1

    So Facebook learnt from the Microsoft playbook on how to destroy a competitor, and give the people nothing but garbage in return.

    --
    Take Nobody's Word For It.
  9. So much free data! by DogDude · · Score: 1

    I'm amazed at not only the amount of data that people give these companies, but the sheer number of companies they're willing to give their data to. It's astonishing.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
  10. Absolute BS; autoplay videos cannot be stopped, by SlashGodet · · Score: 1

    there are many auto-bots (oddly enough often masquerading as hair salons).

  11. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by WallyL · · Score: 1

    You forgot: Apps in your apps, which app! APPS!

  12. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I always knew you were the app apps guy.
     
    Captcha: Disowns

  13. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by swb · · Score: 1

    I'm always amazed at the number of people on Instagram who have actual pictures of themselves standing in front of a mirror.

    I just can't quite wrap my head around that level of narcissism.

  14. old by bigdavex · · Score: 1

    Wait, Instagram and Snapchat are different things?

    --
    -Dave
  15. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by xession · · Score: 1

    I wonder if during the ARPANET days, anyone pondered a use for such a communications tool to be able to send the digital equivalent of a middle school classroom note.

  16. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by sinij · · Score: 1

    I reason it is easier to take selfie in front of the mirror, so unless your point that taking any selfie is narcissistic, mirrors have nothing to do with it.

  17. So many Tools... by sycodon · · Score: 1

    ...to make an ass of yourself on the internet.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  18. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by j2.718ff · · Score: 1

    I wonder if during the ARPANET days, anyone pondered a use for such a communications tool to be able to send the digital equivalent of a middle school classroom note.

    You mean the "write" command?

  19. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 1

    So when I'm doing something on the Internet, what criteria do I have to meet for it to be an "actual thing"?

    If its not in an App. Or at least in an app whose name isn't some variation of snappygram.

  20. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by Gussington · · Score: 1

    I'm always amazed at the number of people on Instagram who have actual pictures of themselves standing in front of a mirror.

    You'd have to be a regular of user of Instacrap to know something like this so why do you bother?
    If I find something annoying I stop giving it my attention...

  21. Re:I'm bored of the Internet as an app delivery to by Gussington · · Score: 1

    I reason it is easier to take selfie in front of the mirror, so unless your point that taking any selfie is narcissistic, mirrors have nothing to do with it.

    It's even worse when someone has a 'selfie in the mirror', but the photo has been taken from an angle that would be impossible for the phone they're holding to take...

  22. Slashdot "plain text" is just HTML with linebreaks by KWTm · · Score: 1

    The "Plain Old Text" setting for Slashdot simply inserts <br> tags where your lines end, so that you can use line breaks for formatting. I've always used plain text, and happily take advantage of the ability to insert <blockquote> and other tags manually. Yes, I actually have to type the four characters "&lt;" instead of a less-than sign.

    And I always preview. That will save you a lot of grief.

    Hope that helps!

    --
    404555974007725459910684486621289147856453481154 in hex is "You sank my Battleship?"
    [GPG key in journal]