Instagram "stories" vs. regular posts

Various reasons. Mostly:

—Ephemeral whims that people don’t want to be on their timelines forever.

—General attention seeking.

—Some slutty people post things that will go away before they are reported.

—It can be a way to get someone’s attention by signaling something to them that will vanish. For example, Jussie Smollett (ALLEGEDLY!) using a disappearing IG story to tell his hired faux-attackers where he was and when, without ever directly contacting them.

—Also, there are filters, music, animated GIFs etc on the stories that aren’t available for regular posts.

—Also also, you may be on vacation or at a gallery and want to post 600 photos but know no one wants to see 600 photos on their timeline and so you get it out of your system with stories that are collected in one place and disappear.

See also Aaron Schock, who posts story photos with his actual prostitute friends to say, “hey, had a good time” but without posting them as forever posts. Or like, “hey, here I am soaking in a hot tub naked come get me boyssssss!”

R1 - Thanks! I think you're right on all but especially attention seeking. You can't tell who sees your posts unless you "like" one but you apparently can track who looks at your stories so that satisfies your ego on some level. Or crushes it.

R3 For people who like the filters that make them look a thousand times better than they really do, those are only available in stories. But I do enjoy posting amusing (to me) little series of photos with music clips and animated GIFs.

I just figured out that you can “mute” people’s stories, which is a godsend. I have friends I like to keep up with but I don’t want to see their stupid pink circle at the top of my IG feed every single day.

[quote]Also also, you may be on vacation or at a gallery and want to post 600 photos but know no one wants to see 600 photos on their timeline and so you get it out of your system with stories that are collected in one place and disappear.

IG stories are essentially a “day in the life of” approach whereas posts in the feed are intended for longevity. I rarely story anything unless I’m somewhere super amazing, and even then I limit it to just two or three. No one needs a play-by-play of my morning latte, my desk at work, a random cloud, my hangnail, the temperature gauge in my car or endless selfies. That’s just obnoxious.

I know a few friends who only story now. It's like you only get a glimpse of them. Doing nothing but trying to look glam.

Celebrities are especially bad about this, particularly the B-listers and C-listers. Their Insta obsession is usually inversely proportional to their fame.

I hate that all the filters and stickers and graphics are turning it into a Snapchat clone. If I wanted Snapchat I would have used it in the first place.