Ever since the popular Stories format was introduced by Snapchat back in October 2013, the concept of Stories has blossomed into one of the most popular features of social media platforms from Instagram to Facebook and beyond.

As you probably know, Social Media Stories are mobile, full-screen, vertical videos and images that appear outside of your regular feed. They typically last for only 24 hours before they disappear. They are immersive not only because they're full-screen, but also because they tend to be shared with your audience in the moment.

However, the problem with Stories on social media is, they are subject to the restrictions and limitations of the platform on which they exist.

But in Google's world, Web Stories are simply a web-based AMP version of the popular Story format. The difference enables content developers to host their own content instead of relying on the social media platform to host it. And the advantage is that Web Stories aren't subjected to the stringent requirements and restrictions of Stories that are posted on the typical social media platform (SMP)

This gives you much more leeway in regards to the content you can display. It also means you can much more easily monetize that content.

Because Web Stories are actually just HTML web pages with all of the features and advantages that web pages have over walled-garden SMP Stories, you gain some major advantages which include:

• Web Stories reside on a server that you control. SMP Stories do not.
• You own the copyright to the content, instead ...