About two weeks ago, while I was busy Snapchatting all the people at the park playing Pokémon Go, I wondered for a hot second why Instagram doesn't let you add text, drawings and emoji to your posts.
Then I chuckled at what a stupid idea that would be.
Turns out it's not such a stupid idea, seeing as Instagram just copied the crap out of Snapchat.
For Instagram's parent company Facebook (and CEO Mark Zuckerberg), it's the ultimate f*ck you to Snapchat after failing to kill the app several times with its own unsuccessful clones — andfailing to buy outright buy the rival app.
Well, Zuckerberg's having the last laugh now, because his company basically just declared waron Snapchat.
I can just picture Zuckerberg wearing his robe hacker hoodie, sitting in some evil underground lair, finger-tenting Mr. Burns-style, as he watches a wall of screens showing Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel freaking out.
While Facebook and all the olds who can't figure Snapchat out are celebrating, it's now very apparent to me that Instagram is a trojan horse.
Whatever popular features Facebook wants — and if it fails to gain traction either through its own clone or through an acquisition — it'll use Instagram's large, influential install base to get it.
Instagram is becoming a bloated everything app because the cool kids aren't on Facebook. Facebook is skating to where the eyeballs are, which is Instagram, in order to slay Snapchat.
From this moment on, things will never be the same for Instagram.
Different apps for different content
Instagram is great precisely because it's not Snapchat and Snapchat is great because it's notInstagram.
The two apps offer different experiences. And I carve out time for both of them because they don't compete.
I go to Instagram to look at beautiful photography. And I go to Snapchat to ghost in on my friends' lives through Snapchat Stories, like some kind of creep looking through a digital peep hole.
On the creation side, it's the same deal:
What is Instagram anymore?
By cloning Snapchat's Stories, Instagram is now an app trying to please everyone.
People who don't use Snapchat but do use Instagram will be exposed to it. People who can't grasp Snapchat but understand Instagram will be more inclined to learn how to use Instagram Stories just because they'll internalize that it's easier by association, even if it's not. And people who use both Instagram and Snapchat may find themselves starting to favor one over the other, most likely the one where all their friends are on. (Facebook is betting it's on Instagram).
Contrary to popular belief, I'm open to change when it makes sense. But this one is such a paradigm shift in Instagram's focus that I may just quit this app before it becomes a sh*t sandwich of everything mashed into one.
I don't need two Snapchats. One is enough. And it's already on my phone's main homescreen. Remember how difficult it was to manage a Facebook and a Google+ identity? Facebook eventually won out.
Oh, and you probably already know this, but Instagram is about to become the battery hogging bastard that Snapchat is:
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