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The vertical video takeover is here
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.
In short
- Vertical video dominance traced back to Snapchat's 2013 Stories feature
- Instagram, Facebook and others copied Stories once it proved popular
- Vertical video format proved ideal for scrolling and ad integration
Explained simply
Vertical video is the standard format people now watch on their phones, rather than sideways as on traditional screens. This shift happened not through innovation by individual platforms but through social media companies copying each other's proven features. The chain of events that led to this reveals a pattern in how internet platforms typically develop.
Snapchat introduced Stories in 2013, a feature allowing users to share brief videos that automatically disappeared after 24 hours. The format proved enormously popular and quickly became Snapchat's most valuable asset. Instagram copied it almost identically in 2016, sparking a chain reaction as Facebook, LinkedIn, Tinder and dozens of other platforms added their own versions.
Video became the dominant medium for Stories because it worked well with how platforms designed their apps. It proved ideal for seamless advertising integration, making it commercially valuable for the companies running these services. The prevalence of vertical video today reflects the success of a format designed specifically for smartphone use.
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