Starting today, you can now reply to Instagram Stories with a photo or video. Now, when you’re watching a Boomerang of someone eating a disturbingly large (and probably glittery — why are they always glittery?) milkshake, you’ll have the option to showcase your jealousy through a video response of your own, by simply clicking the camera icon at the bottom of the screen. The new feature links Stories with Instagram Direct, and your responses automatically disappear within a given time frame. (Unless, of course, you take a screenshot, like a jerk.)
Does any of this sound strangely … familiar? Almost as if you’ve done these very actions countless times before on another app whose sole purpose is to do just that? Yes: Instagram Story replies are just the latest step in the app’s quest to become Snapchat 2.0. Following the release of the Stories feature last year, Instagram has been slowly but surely, uh, let’s say “borrowing” the most popular features of its rival. (Yes, Instagram Face Filters, I’m looking at you.) And, somehow, it seems to be working. Instagram now has over 250 million daily users — far surpassing Snapchat — and with the introduction of new features happening regularly, it doesn’t seem likely that the app’s popularity will be dying out anytime soon.
Interested in Snapchatting on Insta? The new photo/video-reply feature is available on a Story near you as of today.
