Windsurf Preview Feature
Codeium
How Windsurf's in-IDE preview feature transforms the developer experience by bringing real-time application testing directly into the workflow
Great Ideas from other Products
Stories Feature
Instagram
Spark
Ember
🔥
Fire
social-media
content
engagement
How Instagram's Stories feature evolved from a simple concept to a platform-defining format
Spark
The initial concept was inspired by the ephemeral nature of real-life moments: what if social media content could be temporary rather than permanent? This challenged the established paradigm of social platforms creating permanent digital archives.
Key observations:
- Users were hesitant to share everyday moments on permanent feeds
- FOMO (fear of missing out) could drive engagement with temporary content
- Reducing the permanence of content could increase sharing frequency
- Snapchat had validated the concept but with limitations
The spark addressed a fundamental tension in social media: the desire to share authentic moments versus the pressure of creating a curated permanent profile.
Ember
As the feature developed, it expanded beyond simple ephemeral photos to become a rich multimedia format with:
- Interactive elements (polls, questions, sliders)
- Creative tools (filters, stickers, text options)
- Algorithmic curation to show the most relevant stories first
- Integration with the broader platform ecosystem
The format began to influence user behavior, encouraging more frequent, casual sharing. It also created a new space for brands and creators to engage audiences in a more authentic, timely manner. The 24-hour timeframe created a natural engagement cycle that kept users returning to the platform daily.
Fire
The fully realized Stories feature has become a platform-defining format that has:
- Been adopted across nearly every major social platform
- Created an entirely new visual language and content format
- Shifted user expectations about content permanence
- Enabled new advertising formats and revenue streams
- Influenced how people document and share their lives
What started as a simple feature has fundamentally changed how people use social media, moving platforms from digital archives to spaces for authentic, in-the-moment sharing. Stories now account for a significant portion of content creation and consumption across multiple platforms.
The impact extends beyond just Instagram - the Stories format has become a standard content type across social media, demonstrating how a single product innovation can reshape an entire industry.