The Facebook Story Feature Looks Like What Snapchat Should Have Been

The first thing you need to know is that a camera icon is coming to the top left corner of the Facebook app soon. That’s the new in-app camera, which is packed with filters, masks, frames, and other effects. You can apply an artistic filter to your video, turning your selfie into a Picasso-style work of art. You can also enjoy masks for upcoming movies, like Alien: Covenant, Despicable Me 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and many others..

The Facebook camera will also feature guest art from various visual artists. Already signed on are Douglas Coupland and Hattie Stewart, and Facebook says that more are coming. The backdrops and frames in these pieces of art allow you to become part of them, along with any of your friends who participate in your photo jam

Facebook writes that the Instagram community has shown it how much fun it is to share things that disappear after a day. We all know who Facebook is really targeting here: Snapchat. With the new Facebook Stories feature, you can share multiple photographs and videos to a visual collection that sits on top of the News Feed. After 24 hours, those images and videos disappear. You can also choose to add your stories to your Timeline or the News Feed.

You might also want to share bits and pieces of your story directly with specific friends. Using the new Direct feature in the mobile Facebook app, you’ll be able to do that. Your photos and videos sent via Direct are only available for a limited time. Your friends will be able to view it once and replay it, or write a reply. Once the conversation on the photo or video is over, though, the content is no longer visible in Direct. This message will self-destruct, basically.

The social media network plans to introduce new ways for the Facebook community to create custom frames and effects. The goal, Facebook says, is for the camera “to be a home to hundreds of dynamic and fun effects that give you new ways to connect with friends, family, and your community.”

I never got into the Snapchat craze, but then again, I’m not the target audience for that sort of app. Millennials seem to love it, though, based on the number of younger folks I see posting their stories in Messenger. Maybe Facebook is stealing some of this idea from Snapchat and others, but that almost seems to be the de facto norm these days. Facebook has the user base for this to be an even greater success than Snapchat. I might even play around with it some when it rolls onto my device.