Facebook Messenger Is Starting to Look Suspiciously Like Snapchat
2016 has been a crazy year for social media, and all the platforms are competing with each other. Twitter is going after Facebook with their new live video broadcasts, and Instagram and Facebook are both trying to draw users away from Snapchat. Instagram’s release of live video looked startlingly close to Snapchat’s, but it seems like Facebook just took it a step further.
Facebook’s revamped Messenger app features a camera that comes packed with many familiar-looking features once unique to Snapchat. Now you can draw on photos and videos with your finger, add stickers and emoji and put Prisma-esque art filters on your pics. You can even put real-time filters on your pics, a la Snapchat’s dog filters, etc.
All the new features for Messenger Camera include swipe to access, a fancy shutter button that tells you if there are new seasonal goodies available (the shutter button will show wrapping paper or other effects), taking your photo BEFORE you choose who to send it to, Snapchat-style augmented reality selfie filters, new art with categories like “I’m Doing,” “I’m Feeling,” etc., art created from (or related to) words you type, text overlays and a blank canvas (now you don’t have to take a photo to create art to send to your pals).
This huge update should be rolling out to iOS and Android users all over the world today.
What do you think of this update? Tell us @BritandCo!
(h/t Tech Crunch + The Verge, photos via Getty)