@iageely
The Facebook network waged a war over the past year on the Snapchat application, as it did not want to start from scratch by creating a new application with the same characteristics as Snapchat to compete with it, so it decided to resort to the applications it owns, which are “Instagram, Facebook, And Messenger, and adding features provided by “Snapchat” to ensure that there is a ready segment of users, instead of waiting for a new segment if you launch a new application.
The war witnessed six attempts to eliminate “Snapchat” from the beginning of 2016 until now. In the beginning, “Facebook” decided to buy MSQRD, a company specialized in developing facial recognition technologies and applying effects to them, similar to those in “Snapchat”. Since then, it has started adding this feature to the “Facebook” application for smart devices and the “Messenger” application, so that users can turn on the camera and apply facial effects before sharing the image with the rest of their friends.
After that, the company decided to develop imaging tools within its official application by including new tools that allow the sharing of self-destructing images, or that they disappear after a period of time, which is the main feature for which the “Snapchat” application was established nearly half a decade ago.
That was not all, as the network decided to launch a new application called Flash, which is specific to emerging markets such as Brazil and India, without making it available in the United States of America.
Simply put, Flash is an exact copy of the "Snapchat" application, which allows the sharing of photos and videos, provided that they disappear automatically after 24 hours, or when the recipient views them. Because of the weakness of the Internet in those countries, Facebook played smartly by launching the application with an area of only 25 MB, focusing on the idea of sharing and downloading media as quickly as possible and with the lowest possible data size to encourage users in those countries to use it.
And “Facebook” not only took advantage of its main application, not even “Messenger”, but rather resorted to “Instagram”, which has 600 million active users per month, which is considered the best opportunity to compete with “Snapchat”, as it is an application specialized in sharing photos and videos mainly, and adding a feature Automatic deletion of content after a period.
At that time, “Facebook” launched the “Stories” feature within “Instagram”, so that anyone can share photos and videos and apply effects to them, provided that they disappear after a period of time. What is distinctive about this matter is the high professionalism that accompanied the emergence of stories within “Instagram”, as the feature works perfectly from the first moment, and users did not complain of any problems, which is something that was in favor of “Facebook”, which certainly made sure of this issue.
And since there is no limit to ambition in the blue social network, “Instagram” got the feature of self-destructing messages as well, with the possibility of creating groups to share photos and videos with them, provided that they disappear after 24 hours as well, as is the case in stories. Also, the developers of “Instagram” did not neglect to add a tool to know who filmed the screen in the groups, which is also a feature present in “Snapchat” since its first months in the smart phone application market.
Finally, “Facebook” surprised the “WhatsApp” audience by adding the “My Story” feature, through which it copied the idea of “Snapchat”, which threatens the future of the latter, especially since “WhatsApp” has a billion subscribers in the world, even if the new feature was subject to development by adding the code For users, instead of following who is on the contact list, and following the stars and celebrities in the world through it, it will be very different.
With these six attempts, Facebook has turned the life of “Snapchat” into almost hell. Copying the same features without changing even in some names is very clear, but it seems that it does not aspire to steal or drag the users of “Snapchat” towards it, but rather just wants to put a ceiling on growth. The application, not having an account on “Snapchat” is very likely and common, so those wishing to share self-destructing photos and videos can now use “Facebook” or “Instagram” for this purpose, instead of downloading “Snapchat” and creating a new account on it, and getting acquainted with the application. Its working mechanism.
It is not possible to predict the results and impact of such matters easily, especially since “Snapchat” does not detail its numbers and suffices to talk about the presence of 150 million active users per day, who watch 7 million video clips per minute, but the current year is sufficient to reveal the possible impact of “Facebook” steps. Which apparently came as a result of the dry responses from Evan Spiegel, the founder and CEO of the “Snapchat” application, in 2013 towards Zuckerberg when he made an acquisition offer for $ 3 billion.
Ibrahim Aqili (Jeddah)
