Snapchat released a new feature for app developers to let users share Stories on their platforms

Yesterday, Snapchat released a new feature for app developers to allow users to share Snapchat Stories on their platforms, according to TechCrunch. With the feature, Snapchat users can now share Stories posts directly from Snapchat to participating Stories-enabled apps.#
At launch, four apps: Triller, Squad, Hily, and Octi have the feature enabled. Each app uses Stories a bit differently: For example, the music video app Triller will allow its users to view Stories from friends and artists they follow, while video chat app Squad lets users watch Stories together during group calls. Snap expects more apps to adopt App Stories over the next year with partners like Houseparty and Tinder, who were originally teased when the feature was first announced last year, likely to follow suit soon.

For Snapchat, App Stories could yield two major benefits: user acquisition through other apps and greater control over the spread of the Stories format as it prepares to further monetize the feature.

User growth. The ability to both access Snapchat Stories from and create them for different platforms will likely spur more content creation and help popularize Snapchat with new users. For context, Snap is projected to reach 314 million global users in 2020 according to eMarketer, up 7.4% year-over-year (YoY) following a successful rebound in 2019, thanks to the successful rollout of its Android App and the creation of several popular new AR filters.
Stories leadership. As the format has been adopted across other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, the pressure has mounted for Snap as it hopes to remain a Stories leader. Maintaining an edge with respect to Stories innovation could be key to attracting ad revenue amid what is expected to be a financially difficult year, especially in the increasingly competitive social advertising space. In line with that, Snapchat has confirmed it will explore monetization opportunities for Snap and its App Stories partners through this product in the future. And thus marketers may soon find opportunities to use Snap's ad formats not only within Snapchat but via third-party platforms as well, allowing them to reach and target a wider range of audiences.

As the format spreads across different platforms and matures into an essential marketing channel, Stories presents marketers with an increasingly wide array of use cases. As eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson puts it in her upcoming report on Stories for eMarketer, "Stories have grown from an experimental format to an essential for many marketers.

They are using stories for organic marketing, to share behind the scene details about their brands and to communicate directly with fans. Stories have also now a regular part of influencer marketing. Most engagements with influencers on Instagram typically involve both posts and stories. And paid advertising is another fast-growing story marketing tool, as advertisers look to extend their ad buys from the Facebook or Instagram feed environment." Marketing campaigns will thus need to take a more in-depth look into the purpose behind the creation of any Stories-based content as well consider which environment or context is best suited for its distribution.