Snapchat now lets users share Stories to outside apps like Triller

Snapchat Stories are getting into the syndication game with the company now allowing developers to install its signature videos directly into outside apps like Triller. On Tuesday, Snapchat introduced what it calls App Stories as part of its tool set for developers that integrates its products and services into their own. The new feature means that developers can enable their own user bases to post videos from Snapchat to their followers on the third-party apps like Triller, Squad, Hily and Octi. Stories are the 24-hour video diaries that Snapchat users create. They were a format popularized by Snapchat but they have been adopted by the wider social media world. Facebook and its family of apps, including Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, have their own versions of Stories. YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter have also embraced the video style. "Obviously, Snap is the perfect partner for us," says Ryan Kavanaugh, a principal investor at Triller. The music-based social video app has 29 million monthly active users, and about 7 million daily users, Kavanaugh says. Meanwhile, Snapchat has 218 million daily users, according to its most recent public filings. The goal is that "every Snap user will also be a Triller user," Kavanaugh says. "This integration is pretty significant," Kavanaugh says. "It gives Triller users a lot more tools for editing and posting video. And as the product launch grows, our goal is to fully integrate into Snapchat." That also includes advertising, Kavanaugh says. Last year, Snapchat started building a mobile ad network for developers, and now with Snapchat videos broadcast more widely, that opens the potential for more ad inventory. Snapchat declined to comment for this story, beyond its announcement and blog post. Stories have led to new ways for advertisers to create commercials for social apps made to reflect the way people hold their phones vertically in their hands. Snapchat was an early proponent of teaching brands to use the vertical video style, but it has since become one of Facebook’s fastest-growing ad offerings, too. Snapchat is competing more intensely with not just Facebook but up-and-coming video apps like Chinese-based TikTok. In 2018, Snapchat launched the developer platform, similar to the programs that Facebook, Google and Apple operate, allowing third-parties to build features based on its products and services, like using Snapchat as a log-in provider for their apps. When the developer platform first launched, it allowed outside apps like Patreon and Triller to share videos into Snapchat. The new App Stories enables those types of apps to show Snapchat video. The other apps announced in the App Stories partnership include Hily, a dating app; Squad, a social video app; and Octi, an augmented reality-based social app. Snapchat had scheduled its third annual developer conference for this week, which is when the company would typically make announcements like the one about App Stories. However, the conference was canceled because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Other developer events have been affected, too, including Facebook’s F8, Google I/O and Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The fact that it has highlighted integrations with apps like Triller shows that the company is trying to foster relationships with the startups in its space. Triller is a popular social video app, similar to Snapchat in its appeal to teens and young adults. Snapchat also has a developer relationship with TikTok, one of its closest rivals that is growing at a staggering pace. Meanwhile, Facebook’s Instagram continues to challenge Snapchat at every turn, promoting Stories videos and developing more augmented reality capabilities. Snapchat also pioneered augmented reality, the digital filters used by many of its 218 million daily users. Snapchat, Facebook, Google and Apple have all built developer programs for the AR community, too, enabling the design of products based on the technology.

Snapchat now lets users share Stories to outside apps like Triller

Featured Stories