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Facebook is exploring Stories, similar to how they appear on Instagram on top of the News Feed. Of course, Stories as an idea is a total rip-off from Snapchat, which has had the feature for sometime now, and Instagram copied it first. The Stories feature has gone live in Ireland on Android, iOS and promotional videos of the same were also shared on YouTube, but later pulled down.
According to photos put out by TechCrunch, Facebook’s Stories feature looks exactly how it does on Instagram, with the little circular profile photo of the user and their friends appearing on top of the News Feed. Except there is a blue ring around these little photos to indicate that a new story has appeared from the user.
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In a statement to the website, the company said “Facebook has long been the place to share with friends and family, but the way that people share is changing in significant ways. 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.” Facebook also told BusinessInsider they plan to bring Stories to other markets.
Just like Instagram, Stories on Facebook are ephemeral in nature and will disappear in 24 hours. You can tap on a user’s Story symbol to view their videos and photos. The circles appears above the News Feed, so it is impossible to ignore this feature.
Also read: Facebook Messenger’s new camera app with filters, 3D masks: Here’s how to use
Facebook has already been testing a new camera app in markets like Brazil, where it will be bringing filters which are similar to Snapchat on the main app. Similar stickers, filters have been launched on the Facebook Messenger app as well, which has been redesigned with UI where the camera is the focus, similar to Snapchat.
The addition of Stories could be a serious killer feature on Facebook. Let’s not forget Instagram’s Stories already have 150 million people using them daily. In Snapchat’s case we don’t know the exact number of daily users, although it is believed to be around 150 million, according to reports. Snap Inc., the parent company for Snapchat is also going for an IPO this year. But it looks like Facebook could play spoilsport by taking some of its more popular features, and it might affect growth in other markets for Snapchat.
Stories on Facebook would mean faster uploads for pictures, videos, and could potentially boost engagement on the social network, where the original content upload has decreased in the last year or so. Also Facebook has one billion plus monthly active users, and Stories could on the platform could garner a massive user base soon.
