Facebook copies Snapchat Stories again to introduce ‘Messenger Day’

Facebook has rolled out ‘Messenger Day’ – a Snapchat Stories clone – in the Messenger app, globally.

At the end of last year, Facebook introduced a revamped camera for Messenger, with a lot of stickers, filters, emoji, effects, masks and more. The world is becoming more visual and this is a fun way to keep people more engaged. It says,

“At the same time, we also began testing a way for you to share these photos and videos — as they happen — by adding to your Messenger Day, where many of your friends can view and reply to them. You’re always in control of who can see your day — share it with everyone, or choose specific friends and family members on Messenger.”

The Messenger Day feature is just like ephemeral stories that last for 24 hours and then automatically disappear. Now, this feature is rolling out globally to all the Android and iOS users.

How to use it?

• Update your Messenger app to the latest version.
• Open Messenger and tap on the camera highlighted with a sun.
• Take a selfie or make a video.
• Click the smiley icon on the top right to add effects, frames or stickers to your photo. You can also add text or doodle over your photos.
• After you’ve edited your picture, tap an arrow on bottom right corner. You can then add directly to your day, save it to your phone’s camera roll, and/or you can choose to send it to a specific person or group of people. The photo or video that you add to your day will be viewable for 24 hours.

You can also add to your day from a conversation you’re having with a friend or group of people. Once you send a photo or video, an option “add to your day” will appear below it. You can simply tap that to add it to your day.

Choose who you share your day with

It will be totally up to you if you want to share your day with everyone or with specific family/friends. You can customize how you share by tapping the “more” icon and then choosing “Everyone Except” or “Custom.” If you share something to your day that you decide you want to take down, just tap the image at the top of your inbox, then tap the three dots at the bottom right-hand corner of your image, and then select “Delete.”

Social Media ‘Stories’

Snapchat was the first of all social media to introduce ephemeral stories three years ago. Another Facebook-owned platform, Instagram, introduced Stories last year and more than 150 million Instagrammers have used this feature since its inception. Last month, WhatsApp launched an updated version of “WhatsApp Status” which resembles Snapchat and Instagram Stories. Facebook is also testing ephemeral Stories feature that will appear at the top of News Feed.