By syndicating its Stories to other applications, Snapchat avoids copycats.

 

Snapchat's Stories format has been widely imitated, most notably by Instagram and Facebook, though versions for YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, SoundCloud, and other platforms are also being developed. By allowing developers to include the original Stories in other apps rather than creating a copycat version from scratch, Snapchat aims to maintain some control over the feature and fend off future copycats.

Now, when people shoot a photo or video with the Snapchat camera, they’ll get options to share it not just to their Story or Snap Map and the crowdsourced community Stories, but also to their Story within other apps integrated with Snap Kit. Users will see options to syndicate their Stories to products equipped with App Stories where they’re already logged in.

Unlike on Snapchat where Stories disappear after 24 hours, they default to a 7-day expiration in other App Stories. That relieves users of having to constantly post ephemeral Snaps to keep their dating or social app profiles stocked with biographical content.