Facebook Stories?! Snapchat's main feature is copied again

The competition couldn't be more heated. Facebook has released a near identical clone of Snapchat Stories, the company announced Wednesday.

It wouldn't be the first time. Back in August, Facebook-owned Instagram released Instagram Stories, which almost exactly copied the photo-and-video feature created by Snapchat. That's turned out quite successful for Facebook. Instagram Stories has more than 150 million daily active users, which is on par with Snapchat's latest statistics.

For now, Facebook Stories is only available in Ireland, where the company has been testing a new "in-app camera" since October 2016. Facebook is still "testing" the Stories feature, a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable in an email.

Still, Facebook has clearly invested in the product. Facebook released a minute-long promotional video, titled "Introducing Facebook Stories."

It looks really similar to the layout of Instagram Stories, where each users' feed is shown in a circle at the top of the feed. 

Users can then, not unlike Instagram Stories and Snapchat Stories, overlay a filter (Snapchat language) aka frame (Facebook language).

They are also interactive. This feature would be what Facebook calls a "mask," which is what Snapchat calls a "lens." Facebook's Chief Product Officer Chris Cox demoed this feature back in October 2016.

Facebook users can direct message via the platform. That's opened up a whole new feature in Facebook called Direct, separate from Facebook's chat app Messenger. That inbox, where users respond to specific friends about photos and videos, has been available in Ireland since last year.

The photos and videos can be shared to a feed available to friends or privately to a user. There are no groups, unlike Snapchat.

Stories disappear after 24 hours, just like Snapchat. The photos and videos won't appear on a user's timeline on in the core News Feed unless the user chooses.

Facebook appears to be admitting and addressing its sharing problem. A report from The Information from March 2015 — that is constantly cited by the press and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has subtly addressed in calls with investors — revealed Facebook has suffered from a decline in original sharing.

"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.

Indeed, five years ago, Snapchat launched and helped usher in a movement to take and share vertical photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.

Facebook says it hopes to bring Facebook Stories and "other fun features" to more countries over the coming months.

By Kerry FlynnJan 25, 2017
http://mashable.com/2017/01/25/facebook-stories-snapchat/#ilTEDLU1HaqE