If you opened up Facebook on an iOS or Android device to upload a photo recently, you may have noticed some new photo editing features that feel lifted from Snapchat.
When you upload a photo to Facebook via the iOS or Android app, you can now add text and stickers on top of it. Furthermore, you can swipe left and right to switch between seven filters.
The user interface is so similar to Snapchat, it’s no wonder the company didn’t didn’t announce the new update with much fanfare.
Filters are only swipe-able on the status update screen. When you tap the magic wand icon in the lower left corner of the photo you wish to edit, you’ll be taken to a screen with options for tagging friends, cropping, adding text and adding stickers.
Facebook’s new photo uploader isn’t the first time the social network has copied Snapchat. After failing to acquire Snapchatfor $3 billion in 2013, Facebook has been on a relentless mission to out-Snapchat Snapchat by releasing clone apps that essentially try to mimic the app’s ephemeral appeal.
Facebook released Poke in 2012, but it never caught on.Slingshot, its second attempt at killing Snapchat, had potential when it was released last year, but it also fell by the wayside.
Facebook’s core mission is to “connect the next billion” people by providing a communications platform. Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp for $16 billion and the transforming of its Messenger to a platform with an SDK for developers are two ways the company plans to achieve that goal.
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Source: Mashable.com