Facebook keeps copying Snapchat
The social media giant is launching three new features – each popularised by rival Snapchat.
FACEBOOK is enhancing its camera app with dozens of filters and effects, including selfie "masks" from six major Hollywood studios to promote current or upcoming releases, a la Snapchat.
It's also launching Facebook Stories, which lets users share photos and videos that stay up for a 24-hour period. That's a feature Facebook-owned Instagram had already copied from Snapchat, followed by similar "stories" features in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
And the third new Facebook feature mimics Snapchat's original disappearing-message trick: With Direct, Facebookers can send photos or videos to their friends that will vanish after a short time. Just as with Snapchat, Facebook users' friends will be able to view photos and videos sent via Direct once (with a replay) and send a reply.
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but its blatant cloning of Snap's Snapchat app indicates that Facebook is concerned about losing share to Snapchat especially among younger users.
The new Facebook in-app camera features will be rolling out starting on its iOS and Android apps. To access them, users can tap on the camera icon on the top left corner of the Facebook app or swipe right from News Feed.
The movie masks will be available in Facebook Live. The initial masks are for 20th Century Fox's Alien: Covenant, Universal/Illumination's Despicable Me 3, Disney/Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Lionsgate's Power Rangers, Sony's Smurfs: The Lost Village and Warner Bros' Wonder Woman. In addition, Facebook is including guest art from visual artists like Douglas Coupland and Hattie Stewart with the launch of the new camera.
Other Facebook effects users can apply to photos and videos include "reactive" effects that let you interact with dynamic objects (like falling snow) and "style" effects, to apply an artistic filter to your video in real time.
In the main Facebook app, Facebook Stories will sit as part of a visual collection atop a user's News Feed.
Friends can view your story for 24 hours, as with Snapchat Stories. (Facebook Stories won't appear on your timeline or in News Feed unless you post them there, as well.)
Over the next few months, Facebook said it plans to introduce new ways for the users to create their own camera frames and effects that can be used on any photo or video created with the new Facebook camera.
"Our goal is for the camera to be a home to hundreds of dynamic and fun effects that give you new ways to connect with friends, family, and your community," Facebook product manager Connor Hayes wrote in a blog post. – Reuters TWITTER has begun surveying members on a paid subscription service that would give frequent users more tools for using the social network for marketing, journalism and other fields.
The survey showed Twitter is looking at building a more powerful version of Tweetdeck, the dashboard that many use to manage their accounts.
An upgraded Tweetdeck would put Twitter in competition with third-party services for social media accounts such as Hootsuite or Social Flow, which allow users to manage multiple accounts and measure the impact of their messages.
“Twitter is considering offering a more advanced TweetDeck experience, with more powerful tools to help marketers, journalists, professionals and others in our community find out what is happening in the world quicker, to gain more insights and see the broadest range of what people are saying on Twitter,” survey participants were told.
“This premium tool set will provide valuable viewing, posting and signalling tools like alerts, trends and activity analysis, advanced analytics and composing and posting tools all in one customisable dashboard.”
The company, which has been struggling to boost its membership and keep up with other fast-growing social networks, did not immediately respond to an AFP query on its plans.
In the survey, participants were asked if they would be willing to pay US$4.99 (RM20) per month for the advanced tool, and were asked if other price points would be acceptable.
The tool, if deployed, “will be designed to make it easier than ever to keep up with multiple interests, grow your audience and see even more great content and information in realtime”, according to the survey.
“It would also offer extra features such as advanced audience insights and analytics, tools to monitor multiple timelines from multiple accounts and from multiple devices, including mobile, all in an ad-free experience.”
Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research said the new tier of service may provide a boost for Twitter.
“I’ve thought for a while that some kind of premium subscription service would be a great way to allow the heaviest users of Twitter to pay for the value they get out of it (while potentially avoiding ads), and serve as a useful additional revenue stream at a time when Twitter’s ad revenue has been stagnating,” Dawson said in a blog post. – AFP