Facebook copies from Snapchat again? This time it's a camera feature

The photo or video will only remain visible so long as you and your friend talk about it

Facebook seems to be in no mood to back off from imitating Snapchat.The social networking site has built a new camera with a 
 selfie mask, geofilters, animated photos, and overlaid graphics.

The camera icon is placed on the upper left-hand corner of the Facebook app and looks and feels a lot like Snapchat.

The new camera is currently being tested in Ireland. The Verge reported that the photo or video will only remain visible as long as you and your friend talk about it and would disappear if you fail to start a conversation in the first 24 hours after it’s sent. This is again an attractive option Snapchat offers to its users. 

 

The latest move comes after Facebook acquired video filter app Msqrd in March. With Msqrd you can record video selfie animations and send it to friends via your favorite messengers and social networks.

Also, a report by The Information said that people using the social network were posting fewer things about their personal lives for their friends to see. This would mean Facebook losing out more users to platforms like Snapchat. It is for this reason, a video browsing hub was recently launched by Facebook, where you can also watch live videos. The social networking site is also working on a video search engine. 

In August, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, introduced Instagram stories and it is strikingly similar to Snapchat story. You can create a timeline of photos, videos with filters and everything disappears in 24 hours. TechCrunch also reported that Facebook was testing the story format for its chat app Messenger which has 1 billion monthly active users.