Facebook Developing A New Messaging App To Rival Snapchat

“Private messaging, ephemeral stories and small groups are by far the fastest-growing areas of online communication”, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This comes after the CEO announced that private messaging would be the future of his company, something the firm has been focused on for a while with the constant attempts at integrating Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

Facebook vs Snapchat

Statistics show that on average Snapchat has 190 million daily users, while Instagram has roughly 500 million. However, due to reports claiming the average Snapchat user spends more time on the app than the average Instagram user; Zuckerberg’s desire to increase the brand’s younger user engagement rate has become his main mission. It seems that to do this, the firm has decided to focus on Instagram and developing new apps rather than focusing on improving Facebook, as for many individuals of ‘Generation Z’, a Facebook account has never been created.

Because of this, Facebook is developing a new messaging app that aims to promote instant, intimate sharing with friends. This is Facebook’s latest attempt at competing with fellow social media giant, Snapchat.

In the space of just five years, Facebook has either cloned, bid for or used similar features to Snapchat 18 times. It had not gone unnoticed when Instagram (an app owned by Facebook) introduced its story features that were extremely similar to the story aspect of Snapchat. Prior to this, Zuckerberg put in a bid to buy Snapchat at an estimated $3 billion, which Snapchat turned down.

A new App?

According to reports, ‘Threads’ is the name for the new app being developed by Facebook. The app, which is said to be a companion app to Instagram, shares certain biomarkers of the user’s phone, such as their location, speed, and battery life; as well as the usual text and picture messaging. Additionally, the app concentrates on Instagram’s ‘close friends’ list, meaning users can only share things with people on their personal list. The key features of the new app could be said to be similar to the features Snapchat is mostly known for, such as their Bitmoji map to track people’s locations and the instant photo messaging service.

Casey Newton from The Verge (an American technology and media network) was given access to the new app, being shown screenshots of the test version. Newton reported the app was very similar to Instagram’s messaging feature with there being stories and features showing when the user was last active.

It has been further reported that the app is being tested internally within the company, and so far, there has been nothing but positive feedback. It is unclear when the app will be released to the public but will be interesting to see how it stands against its leading competitor.

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