As it continues to test a major redesign of its iOS and Android apps, Snapchat is also reportedly working on extending the reach of its popular Stories feature. According to a report from Cheddar, Stories Everywhere would allow users to share Stories in other applications and on the web…
Cheddar likens the feature to Twitter’s support for embedding tweets across the web. Snap hopes that users will be more likely to create Stories if they’re able to share them on other platforms. Furthermore, with support for sharing on the web and in other applications, Stories will see more exposure and ideally help Snap rebound from stagnant user growth.
Additionally, the report explains that the web player would prompt users to sign up for Snapchat, which is yet another indicator of Snap’s efforts to attract new users and please unsure investors.
While Facebook and Instagram have essentially ripped off Snapchat’s Stories feature, they don’t offer support for sharing that content on other platforms, so Stories Everywhere could give Snapchat the edge here. That is, of course, until Facebook copies them yet again.
To help spearhead the expansion of Stories, Cheddar says that Snap has hired Rahul Chopra, the former VP and global head of video at News Corp. Don’t expect Stories Everywhere to launch anytime soon, though, as the feature is said to be in the “early stages of development” and part of Chopra’s efforts to more broadly distribute the content created by Snapchat users:
Snapchat went public in February of this year, but has had a largely dismal 10 months as it faces stagnant user growth and frustrated investors. Its first hardware product, Spectacles, also didn’t sell as well it had hoped.
The project could mean that Snapchat makes it easier to share videos on other platforms through a web player that also prompts people to sign up and download the app.
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