Source: Business Insider
Source: Business Insider
Source: Business Insider
Zuckerberg said "the camera is the composer" during an all-hands meeting with Facebook employees over the summer, according to someone familiar with the meeting.
The statement was an obvious nod to Snapchat, which recently rebranded itself as "Snap Inc., a camera company," but since day one has prioritized photo and video messages in its app.
During Facebook's quarterly earnings call in October, Zuckerberg explained that Facebook now sees the camera as the future of how people share and communicate.
"In most social apps today, a text box is still the default way we share," he said. "Soon, we believe a camera will be the main way that we share."
Instagram in August unveiled "Stories," a near identical clone of Snapchat's unique story format that lets you post photos and videos to your profile that disappear after 24 hours.
The feature was such a blatant clone of Snapchat that Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom even told TechCrunch that "they [Snapchat] deserve all the credit."
“When you are an innovator, that’s awesome," Systrom said. "Just like Instagram deserves all the credit for bringing filters to the forefront. This isn’t about who invented something. This is about a format, and how you take it to a network and put your own spin on it."
Adopting the format worked: Instagram Stories are now viewed by more than 100 million people every day.
The Facebook-owned app added group messaging before Snapchat, for example, but has yet to debut its own version of Snapchat's geofilters or face lenses. Instagram also lets people stream live video to their stories, which is a feature Snapchat has yet to add.
Source: Business Insider
In October, Facebook announced a completely revamped camera interface in its main app that can send goofy selfies that disappear after 24 hours.
The test, which Facebook simply calls "the new camera," is first being made available in Ireland before rolling out to everyone.
Like Snapchat, Facebook's new camera includes dozens of special effects including augmented-reality selfie "masks" that seem almost identical to Snapchat's Lenses. A camera button at the top of the News Feed will open the new interface, and swiping to the right of the News Feed will show photo and video direct messages with friends.
Source: Business Insider
Facebook started quietly testing camera messaging in WhatsApp this fall, and it's since added more tools like emoji stickers and the ability to draw on messages like Snapchat.
Source: Business Insider
Facebook users in select countries can now make custom camera "frames" that others can overlay over photos and add to their profile pictures. They work almost exactly like Snapchat's geofilters.
Facebook is also using MSQRD to power what it calls selfie "masks" for live video streams, which work like Snapchat's goofy lenses.
After testing the feature in a few countries, Messenger introduced a new camera interface in December that encourages people to send photo and video messages to each other like Snapchat.
Source: Business Insider
While Snapchat's 150 million daily users are a mere drop in the bucket to Facebook's 1.8 billion users, Snapchat has something that Facebook has reason to be afraid of: momentum.
Snapchat was Apple's most downloaded app of 2016 in the App Store, and its parent company Snap Inc. is preparing for a $25 billion IPO early next year.
Snap has branched into selling hardware with its hyped Spectacles camera glasses launch, and it has already built multi-year partnerships with brands like Turner and Disney to create original shows for the Discover section of its app (which is another strategy Facebook is starting to adopt, too).
While Facebook has become an essential utility for connecting people, Snapchat has popularized a new way of communicating that's highly visual, ephemeral, and fun. Snapchat represents an existential threat to Facebook because it has managed to redefine how people share through photos and videos.
And so, Facebook spent 2016 acknowledging that Snapchat's visual way of communicating is the future of social networking. In 2017, Facebook will likely try to prove that it can beat Snapchat at its own game.
A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single 
2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
7 Nutritious and flavourful tiffin ideas to pack for school
India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
Top 5 places to visit near Rishikesh
Next Story