The end of February wasn’t kind to Snapchat-maker Snap: it rolled out a redesign that users decided they hated. A single Kylie Jenner tweet about the app sent the company’s stock into a downward spiral.

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Despite the criticism from a large number of fans, Snapchat has stuck by the controversial update. Speaking to the BBC recently, Snapchat reiterated that it hoped users would get used to the chat app’s new look. Snapchat said updates "can take a little getting used to" and added: "We hope the community will enjoy it once they settle in.”

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In a blog post, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel explained one of the reasons that sparked the big Snapchat change. He said the “blurring of lines” between friends and content creators had led to the rise of ‘fake news’ in his explanation for the Snapchat shake-up. Spiegel wrote: “Until now, social media has always mixed photos and videos from your friends with content from publishers and creators. While blurring the lines between professional content creators and your friends has been an interesting Internet experiment, it has also produced some strange side-effects (like fake news) and made us feel like we have to perform for our friends rather than just express ourselves. The new Snapchat separates the social from the media. This means that the Chats and Stories from your friends are on the left side of Snapchat, and the Stories from publishers, creators, and the community are on the right.”

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“We’ve also invented something new to make Snapchat feel even more personal: the dynamic Friends page. The new Friends page to the left of the camera displays your friends based on the way you communicate with them. You can think of it as a more sophisticated Best Friends algorithm that makes it easier to find the friends you want to talk to, when you want to talk to them.”

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But really, Snap’s struggles preceded all of that, due in no small part to rival Instagram. Facebook-owned Instagram has “borrowed” plenty of features from Snapchat. And in doing so it has managed, in a relatively short period of time, to build what feels like its own successful social silo (provided you can forget about that whole it’s-a-part-of-Facebook thing). The Instagram Stories feature alone — that series of bubbles at the top of the app that shows people’s shared photos and video clips for up to 24 hours — has grown to 300 million daily users, more than Snapchat’s total daily active users. Instagram has AR filters, too; they’re not as good as Snapchat’s, but they’re fun- and for some more flattering than Snap’s.

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But to compare each feature side-by-side would be a waste of time in a time when app features are so easily copied. The differences between apps like Instagram and Snapchat come down to how people use them, but also, how these apps incentivize different kinds of behavior; whether it’s a teenager frantically messaging a friend, a parent wanting to share one non-hectic moment from their day, or a hashtag-influencer promoting yet another brand. And for the app makers it becomes a delicate balance between providing a tool, amplifying the real world, and creating an overly curated, annoying-ad-driven one.

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People may not remember exactly what was posted, but after awhile, they become aware of how an app makes them feel. That is until they move on to the next social app and bring all their friends with them, and then the cycle begins again.