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Day #98209: Facebook is still copying Snapchat
Facebook is continuing its fight to become the One App to Rule Them All, and we’re all very, very tired.
Yesterday, the company introduced its Snapchat stories clone to its final frontier: the Facebook app. The clone includes — you guessed it — interactive filters, effects and frames. It’s even going to feature sponsored filters and content from upcoming films like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Despicable Me 3. Oh yes. Minions.
Late last year, Facebook introduced stories to Instagram, where it has become relatively popular. It then wildly misunderstood why people are using WhatsApp and introduced the feature there (is there anyone even using Status?). And just last week it introduced the feature to Messenger.
WOW ME ENCANTA EXCEL STORIES 😍😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/DzTO5kzo45
— ioaan (@ioaan) March 21, 2017
And now, in a strange move, the company has brought the feature to its primary app.
Facebook is constantly adding more and more to its platform, making it so complicated that if you asked me what its primary function was, I’d say world domination.
Facebook is starting to look a lot like Snapchat… and we’re not just talking about Messenger
Snapchat is good at what it does — and the demographic that use Snapchat are unlikely to stop because Ye Old Facebook offers up Diet Stories.
Snapchat works because it’s cool — and teenagers know it. The teens I know barely use Facebook anymore, and it isn’t going to gain their trust by creating an even more overwhelming platform.
So what does Facebook get by doing this? And more importantly, what do you as a user get out of this?
The answer is simple: an app store that offers four versions of the same app. With each update, Facebook moves closer to creating identical apps, from live streaming to brand interaction to stories. They’re all rendering the others useless.
If WhatsApp introduced an events feature, I would delete my Facebook account in a heartbeat. The app is heavy, it’s complicated and I rarely close it feeling better than I did before opening.
So, Zuckerberg, if you’re listening. Please, put me out my misery.
Featured image: Jason O’Halloran via Flickr (CC 2.0, resized)
