The rise of stories and the explosion of mobile micro-formats
Mobile formats such as stories have exploded in popularity in recent years, but they raise some interesting design questions – how are they changing the mechanics of mobile interaction? Will they usurp or coexist with the traditional newsfeed? What role do ubiquitous cameras have in shaping how we communicate with these formats? Let’s tease out some of the design issues raised by this phenomenon.
✨✨✨ Stories and Explosion of Mobile Micro-Formats ✨✨✨
I’ve been truly fascinated by all the recent developments that are happening around stories. I tried to structure some of my observations and articulate my thoughts in the thread below.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
1/16 Core mechanics of any newsfeed-based product have been relatively same for a very long time. pic.twitter.com/h82Ls6heju
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
2/16 Somewhere in the process newsfeeds became more or less algorithmic, but the mechanics remained the same: like, share, comment.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
3/16 In 2016 Facebook introduced reactions. Like became non-binary. You suddenly could not just like or do not like, but also love, haha, yay, wow, sad, angry a post. pic.twitter.com/oudDXmw95Q
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
4/16 Around that time Facebook has also started productising some of the recurring patters in posts. E.g. if you are asking for recommendations your post appearance would adjust accordingly. pic.twitter.com/dEw5DNgeCJ
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
5/16 Seemingly boring Facebook posts became a bit more enhanced, but the core interaction mechanics didn’t change. Like, share, comment.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
6/16 At the time when Instagram and Facebook copied stories from Snapchat it didn’t seem like too big of a deal. Facebook has done this before. Now stories and newsfeed live side by side. Cool, whatevs.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
7/16 But then stories kind of exploded. Gradually everyone started using them. New story micro-formats are appearing constantly. Just look at these recent updates of Facebook Camera (image courtesy of @wongmjane). pic.twitter.com/O3iUXlAPOb
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
8/16 Why is this happening? Why is it exciting? What’s coming next?
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
9/16 ✨ Stories are mobile-only ✨
Snapchat has never had a desktop app. Stories were actually never intended to be consumed or created on desktop.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
10/16 ✨ Camera is the new keyboard ✨
Newsfeed was designed at the time when desktop was much bigger than mobile, so keyboard and mouse were key inputs. Camera is a key-input for mobile-only stories world.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
11/16 ✨ Stories totally change the mechanics of interaction ✨
There are no likes or comments visible to everyone on stories. Stories are inherently more personal, because they only facilitate direct communication between creator and audience.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
12/16 ✨ Stories are immersive ✨
When you look at at the newsfeed item there are lots of things that are competing for your attention. When you look at a story, there’s almost nothing else on your screen. You’re totally immersed in the experience. pic.twitter.com/erUgCIMyUY
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
13/16 ✨ Stories work well in AR/VR ✨
Immersive nature of stories makes them perfect for consumption in VR/AR. Snap Spectacles is definitely a move in that direction and there’s more to come.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
14/16 ✨ We shape our tools and then our tools shape us ✨
Big man Marshall McLuhan couldn’t be more right when he said this. @nypl has recently started publishing entire novels as Instagram stories. pic.twitter.com/dh0LFAR699
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
15/16 ✨ TL;DR ✨
Stories are the perfect medium for generation of dopamine-hungry people with short attention span. And it’s cray and exciting.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
16/16 P.S. I’ve probably massively oversimplified some of the developments and their chronology. Soz, feel free to correct me.
— Yuriy Oparenko (@oparenko) October 3, 2018
