Snap is taking its first step to tear down Snapchat's walled garden.
Starting on Wednesday, select Snapchat users will be able to access a new feature to share some of the Stories (video, image and text posts) on the web, for people who don't have the messaging and media app.
At launch, users will be able to press and hold on tiles in Discover to share Official Stories (from top influencers and partners) as well as user-generated Our Stories and Search Stories.
The move is designed to expand Snapchat's reach and to potentially monetise content outside of the app itself. But it's unclear right now exactly how much of a lift Snap might see in terms of ad dollars from users sharing Stories on the web.
The feature will begin rolling out to Snapchat users currently on the redesigned app on Wednesday, which is currently available in countries including Australia and Canada (not yet in the US).
The off-app Stories will be accessible via a new Story player on Snapchat.com. The company said Our Stories and Search Stories will be available outside of the Snapchat app for 30 days, while Official Stories will be available outside of Snapchat for 24 hours.
Word of Snap's move to open up Snapchat Stories on the web leaked in late December.
Snapchat first launched the Our Stories feature in June 2014. Currently, Snapchat users create more than 3.5 billions Snaps per day, according to the company.
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