Over the last few months I’ve decided to embrace my inner 13 year old (acne and changing voice not included) and have spent an inordinate amount of time on two younger skewing social media platforms – Instagram and Snapchat. I don’t know if I’m in age denial, trying to hang with the cool kids or if I’m really into making the most of these channels as it applies to my storytelling desires. Whatever it is, I’m all in and having a blast.

I’ve been on Snapchat for 6 months now and I love it because it’s difficult to grasp. I played around with it for weeks and made stupid mistakes like sending pictures of flowers directly to people who could give a shit. But I couldn’t stop trying to master it. Once I understood the basics, I felt like I was a part of a cool secret club. Even at 44 years old, it’s fun.

Once my 10 year old daughter joined (and guess who gets to monitor her activity?) it took her no time to show me Snapchat’s full capabilities. I picked up a lot on my own and I’m proud of my ability to be a practitioner, but these kids just have that intuition and it is fascinating and interesting to watch. Say all that you want about “millenials” and youth culture today, but these kids are creative and persistent and I love it.

And now this week, Instagram announced the launch of Instagram “stories” which is a direct ripoff of Snapchat. I’ve only had two days to play with it, but here’s my take:

• It is Snapchat but with a more user friendly interface
• It is much easier to promote your own stories to a larger audience
• It lacks the whimsy and fun and youthfulness of Snapchat.
• The filter function on Snapchat, which is not part of Instagram “stories” is a big difference maker for those who love showing off their travels.

I’m sure you’ll be reading more about it in the weeks to come as the battle between social media platforms intensifies. I see no reason why both can’t exist on their own and I’ll be using both for different storytelling reasons.

I’ve created a few Instagram “stories” so far, including one that documented my trip to my local garden center. I can’t show you the videos here, but if you hurry, you can see it on my Instagram profile but do it quickly, because just like Snapchat, the stories disappear after 24 hours. This “here and gone” theory creates an immediacy not so different from how we communicate when we talk to each other each day. I get it and like it. Your Instagram photos are pretty and nicely filtered and well thought out. Your Instagram “stories” are more off the cuff and raw but more of who you are. It’s nice to have both capabilities within the same platform.

My Instagram “story” from today:

It is a bit incomplete without the videos I included, but you get the point.

I’ll be diving into this more and more and lucky you will be able to view these stories over the next few weeks.

Before I go, have any of you planted Oregano ‘Kent Beauty’? That is what you see in my haul above and I’m curious how it has performed for you?

QOTD – any interest in Snapchat or Instragram? If so, let’s connect and if not, let me know why. I won’t be insulted … easily.