What are Social Media Stories?

Stories are vertical, full-screen photos or short videos that disappear after 24 hours, creating a sense of urgency and authenticity. First introduced by Snapchat in 2013, the format has been adopted by Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (as Fleets, now discontinued), and YouTube (as Shorts).

Unlike static posts, Stories offer a more casual and ephemeral way to engage, giving brands and users a space to be authentic, creative, and timely. This ephemeral content format lives separate from the main feed, usually accessed by tapping profile images at the top of the app interface.

Key features of stories

• Disappear after 24 hours
• Appear in a dedicated top-of-feed bar
• Include interactive tools: polls, questions, emojis
• Can be saved as Highlights (on Instagram)
• Often used for real-time updates, announcements, or personal moments

Stories across social media platforms

Many major platforms have integrated the story format in different ways:

Instagram:  Stories appear at the top of the feed and last 24 hours. Include interactive features like polls, quizzes, stickers, music, and link stickers. Users can save stories as Highlights on their profile for long-term viewing.

Facebook: Offers a similar format to Instagram. Stories appear at the top of the Facebook mobile app and desktop and disappears after 24 hours. Supports reposts from Instagram, filters, effects, and music.

Snapchat: The originator of the Story format. Include features like geofilters, AR lenses, and private story options. Also features Discover Stories from creators and media outlets.

TikTok: Introduced Stories in 2022, allowing users to share ephemeral content alongside their regular videos. They live under a user's profile and the For You page, distinguishable by a blue story ring.

Pinterest: Pinterest introduced Story Pins in 2020, later rebranded as Idea Pins, before ultimately unifying all Pin creation into a single format. However, unlike typical 'stories' on other platforms, even the original Story Pins didn't disappear after 24 hours - they were designed to enable multi-page posts instead.

Other platforms have also tested Stories features before discontinuing them, including Twitter's Fleets (2020), YouTube Stories, and LinkedIn Stories.