YouTube is the latest in a long line of apps to introduce stories

In the world of digital media and mobile apps, there are innovators and there are those that adopt and adapt ideas. In such a diverse and rapidly growing industry, both of these approaches can lead to success, whether you are a  globally established brand like YouTube or a new app developer.

One of the biggest trends to be adopted by apps across the industry is the story feature which gives users the ability to publish images and video that documents their day.

Snapchat introduced this feature as an addition to the ability to send self-deleting media and it became an instant success. With over 170 million active daily users, more than 25% of which share stories every day, the potential of the concept quickly became clear to other popular developers.

Since Snapchat experienced such positive feedback from its user base regarding the story feature, other major platforms have adopted the idea and implemented their own iterations.

One of the first was the popular media sharing platform, Instagram which introduced its stories feature in 2016. The app saw success thanks to the integration of its advanced image editing software which gave more incentive for users to share their content. Recent figures have shown that Instagram has actually overtaken Snapchat in the number of users updating daily stories. This shows that adopting ideas and improving on them can be hugely beneficial for app developers.

As well as an improved user experience and increased engagement figures, stories have provided a lot of opportunity for app developers to create commercial partnerships with global brands. Huge companies in industries ranging from fashion to news and entertainment have taken advantage of Snapchat’s stories by posting daily updates and promoting their brand or service. The financial benefit of this is one of the reasons so many other app developers have begun introducing stories.

Social media giant, Facebook is among the long list of brands that have introduced stories into their mobile app which illustrates how much potential the idea has. Most recently, YouTube has announced that it will be introducing ‘Reels’. This is the media sharing brand’s version of stories which will expand on the concept by introducing original features.

The adoption of stories by such iconic digital brands goes to show that improving and adapting existing ideas can be just as effective within the app market as creating totally original ideas. While it’s important not to simply imitate, it can be hugely beneficial for new app developers to take inspiration from other products.