Instagram’s Order To Copy Snapchat Stories Reportedly Came From Mark Zuckerberg Himself

When Instagram decided to unveil a new feature that was essentially a clone of Snapchat Stories, it received a lot of flak for its lack of originality. The social media service didn’t waste anyone’s time denying the fact and instead proudly confirmed it. However, new reports indicate that this might not have actually been Instagram’s idea but was actually the order of Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg.

According to a source who spoke with Bloomberg, the founders of Instagram didn’t initially want to copy what Snapchat was doing with Stories. They likely realized that the optics of doing so wouldn’t be that good, even if they ended up benefiting from the move in terms of user growth and sheer numbers.

It would seem that it took until Zuckerberg personally making the request for the people running Instagram to give in and do as ordered. So far, the move has been a huge boon for the social media service, with its own version of Stories seeing massive jumps in user growth.

When asked about these claims, Facebook naturally denied them and responded by saying that the Instagram side "was not pressured" to clone Stories and that the decision was supposedly “internally” made. The photo-sharing network’s Co-founder Kevin Systrom didn’t help push this particular narrative, however, when he wouldn’t confirm it and noted that the decision caused tension within the team.

Ultimately, Instagram is now in a much better position thanks to Zuckerberg and this is ultimately what the Facebook founder was after. A successful Instagram can only be good for its mother company, Facebook because of how similar they are, Engadget notes.

The biggest difference is in how the larger social network is currently embroiled in scandal after scandal. In contrast, Instagram is largely seen as the platform that Facebook used to be. No drama, just the sharing of photos and experiences.