Instagram, one of the most popular social media apps, recently projected an identical feature derived from Snapchat in their recent update.

“I think Instagram just wanted more people in their platform because Snapchat has been gaining popularity,” freshman Ashleigh Rawson said.

Instagram was first released in 2010 with the simple features of sharing pictures online, adding fellow users, and liking and commenting on photos.

As for Snapchat, it was relaunched in 2011, containing the feature of sending timed pictures and short-length videos to each other.

Over the years both apps have released numerous features that increased their functions and appeal to the growing number of users.

“You can stalk people without them knowing,” Rawson said.

There are some newly added features on Instagram where it showed an obvious resemblance to Snapchat.

In 2013, Snapchat revealed Snapchat Stories, where users can share their photos or videos in their story section, allowing all their friends to view them for 24 hours, instead of the one-to-one person.

Eventually, Instagram released Instagram Stories in 2016, also enabling users to share photos or videos publicly or to friends for 24 hours.

“I think it’s okay to get ideas based of each other,” freshman Crystal Martinez said. “But it’s not okay to copy one another because sometimes you’re gonna have your own original ideas and if too many apps have the same features then it’s just going to be boring.”

Despite Instagram’s evident imitation of Snapchat’s Stories, the social media platform still manages to excel in its number of active users, reaching 200 million almost daily. This exceeds Snapchat’s 161 million active daily users.

Instagram’s actions may have caused controversies but they still succeeded in taking advantage of the ideas coming from competitors.