Facebook Messenger copies Facebook’s copy of Instagram’s copy of Snapchat Stories

Messenger Day lets people post photos and videos to a running diary that expires after 24 hours, like they can on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

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At least they changed the name this time.

On Thursday, Facebook Messenger officially rolled out its copy of Facebook’s copy of Instagram’s copy of Snapchat’s Stories feature that lets people post photos and videos to a running diary that disappears after 24 hours.

Unlike Snapchat Stories and Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories, Messenger’s version is not called Messenger Stories. It’s called Messenger Day. Other than that, there’s not much difference between Messenger’s copy and Snapchat’s original.

Like on Snapchat, on Messenger people can add text, drawings, emojis, illustrated filters and even lenses, or animated filters that can be applied to your face, to the photos and videos they post to their Messenger Day, um, “stories.” A Messenger blog post announcing the feature calls them “days,” so okay, sure.

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The camera interface that people use to create a post is a fraternal twin to Snapchat’s interface, even the list that appears asking someone if they want to publish the post to their “day” or send it privately to a friend. However, unlike on Snapchat, Messenger adds a third option for someone to create custom groups of friends who can see their “day.”

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When it comes to showing you other people’s “days,” Messenger has copied Instagram but also added its own spin. Like on Instagram, Messenger has added a horizontal carousel atop its main screen that lists friends’ “days.” Unlike on Instagram, or Snapchat for that matter, when you’re privately messaging with someone, that person’s “day” will appear atop the conversation, and photos or videos you post to the conversation will feature a button that, when clicked, will add the post to your day.

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Tim Peterson
Contributor
Tim Peterson, Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter, has been covering the digital marketing industry since 2011. He has reported for Advertising Age, Adweek and Direct Marketing News. A born-and-raised Angeleno who graduated from New York University, he currently lives in Los Angeles. He has broken stories on Snapchat's ad plans, Hulu founding CEO Jason Kilar's attempt to take on YouTube and the assemblage of Amazon's ad-tech stack; analyzed YouTube's programming strategy, Facebook's ad-tech ambitions and ad blocking's rise; and documented digital video's biggest annual event VidCon, BuzzFeed's branded video production process and Snapchat Discover's ad load six months after launch. He has also developed tools to monitor brands' early adoption of live-streaming apps, compare Yahoo's and Google's search designs and examine the NFL's YouTube and Facebook video strategies.

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