The list of similarities between social media giants Facebook and Snapchat has grown significantly over the last year. Most recently, Facebook updated their “Stories” feature to enable public story sharing.
What does this mean? In March of 2017, Facebook released its version of “Stories,” in an attempt to bring greater intimacy when looking into your friends’ and followers’ worlds. However, when this feature was released, there was a strong backlash due to the lack of originality on behalf of Facebook. Few people legitimately used it given there are already platforms that had essentially perfected the stories feature.
Facebook quietly released an update allowing users more leniency in choosing privacy settings for their stories. Now, celebrities, personalities, and general users can release their stories for public viewing, rather than just to friends. This step could encourage user involvement in the Stories community, increasing the reach of Facebook in the media world.
By eliminating the need to promote pages and limiting your list to your closest friends, the feature feels like a more authentic glimpse into users’ lives than other social media platforms, which do not yet have the same “public” function. After the first few hours with the new updates, Facebook saw more participation in their stories than previously. This is direct evidence that the originality of this feature could give Facebook an edge over other social media platforms.
To utilize the new setting, first, add a new story on the home screen and post content in the form of photo or video.When viewing the story, tap “Edit Story Settings” and change the setting from “Friends” to “Public” and you’ll be able to share your story from the last 24 hours to anyone anywhere. The new feature unlocks new audiences for content creators. Do not write off Facebook Stories just yet, as we predict an increase in connectivity on Facebook.
