The Verge examines how vertical video has become the dominant format across social media and streaming, arguing that major platforms grew powerful largely by copying one another's successful features rather than through original innovation. The piece traces this pattern back to Snapchat's 2013 launch of Stories, a feature that proved so popular it was soon replicated by Instagram, Facebook and eventually most other major apps, illustrating how quickly successful formats spread industry-wide once proven.

The article details how Snapchat's Stories feature, launched in late 2013 by CEO Evan Spiegel, became the app's most popular feature by mid-2014, prompting Instagram to copy it almost exactly by August 2016, with then-Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom openly crediting Snapchat. Stories subsequently spread to platforms including LinkedIn, Tinder and Medium, with video eventually becoming the dominant medium as it proved ideal for endless scrolling and seamless advertising integration, with Facebook flooding Instagram Stories with ads within months of launch once half its users had adopted the format.