Facebook has released on Wednesday a new feature, one that is a very identical clone of Snapchat Stories. Is this another copycat piece of an update?
Facebook Is Copying Yet Another Popular Snapchat Feature
Again, Facebook is copying another unique Snapchat feature, that is the Stories. It is a specialty wherein the short user-generated photo and video montages that will disappear after 24 hours or 1 day. According to Recode, the new Facebook feature is only live in Ireland, the same market where Facebook is testing a few other Snapchat-like features, and a company spokesperson referred to it as a "test."
But, as reported, the test may not last that long. “We're hoping to bring Stories... to the rest of the world in the coming months,” the Facebook spokesperson said. Instagram, a photo app owned by Facebook, already copied Stories back in August and has seen a lot of success with the product. As of today, Instagram claims 150 million people are using it every day, which is a group as large as the Snapchat’s entire user base.
"The way people share today is different to five or even two years ago — it's much more visual, with more photos and videos than ever before. We want to make it fast and fun for people to share creative and expressive photos and videos with whoever they want, whenever they want," a Facebook spokesperson wrote an email to Mashable.
Facebook Stories Is From Instagram Stories
Since Instagram is already using the feature Stories, it shouldn't be a surprise anymore for all of us that the owner, which is Facebook, is adopting it, too on Facebook. Instagram product boss Kevin Weil recently told Recode that Stories is a format he expects a lot of people will start using, similar to how the hashtag (which started on Twitter) is now widespread online.
“[We] built on a format that Snapchat invented,” Weil admitted in late December. “We believe that format will be universal.” Still, Facebook has not been detailed about its efforts to stomp out Snapchat. It spent most of 2016 cloning almost all Snapchat features, and Stories is yet another sign that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is worried about Snapchat's rise.
