Dive Brief:
- Facebook is simplifying its daily stories capabilities by ending the "Day" feature in Messenger and merging it with Stories on the main platform, according to TechCrunch. The new Stories feature will appear in both apps and will sync, so users no longer need to manually cross-post photos and videos to the two separate platforms.
- However, the cameras on the two apps will remain distinct, as the camera on Facebook's main platform will continue to focus on augmented reality (AR) masks and effects, and the Messenger camera will stick with adding custom text captions to fit the app's core chat functionality, per TechCrunch.
- Facebook is also launching collaborative Stories, where selected group members can post and view photos or videos that the rest of the group can see for 24 hours. In a privacy update, users can now make Stories visible to the public, friends only, friends and connections or a custom list of selected friends.
Dive Insight:
Facebook Stories has received its share of flack for failing to gain much traction with users and also becoming more intrusive in News Feed as Facebook tries to correct for that lack of interest. Merging the feature with the similar Messenger Day tool could be a bid to address the low popularity, streamline the Stories offerings and increase post exposure across the two apps. The social giant's push to integrate the two features might encourage more adoption and help replicate the success of Instagram Stories, which has surpassed its inspiration Snapchat's daily user base of 173 million.
Stories was one of Facebook’s most audacious moves in copying Snapchat. Instagram Stories launched in August 2016. In October 2016, Facebook rolled out its own Stories feature and began testing Messenger Day. With this latest merger, the social media giant appears to be working to make its core platform more video- and visually-oriented while cleaning up its product offerings for its two billion users. Like the Snapchat version, Facebook’s Stories feature hosts photos and videos that appear for only 24 hours.
While Facebook and its image-sharing app Instagram have historically replicated Snapchat's features just months after they roll out, it doesn't appear that Facebook is taking direct aim at Snapchat, which targets mainly younger millennial or Gen Z users. Facebook, on the other hand, is used by a broader range of users around the world, and it's possible the social media giant is simply looking to open up the Stories features to this larger group of late adopters.