Facebook's messaging app, Messenger, today introduces a feature called Messenger Day, which allows users to post pictures and videos within the app that disappear after 24 hours.
Messenger is the latest app in the Facebook stable to adopt the ephemeral feature that is integral to rival social network Snapchat. In late February, WhatsApp launched its Status feature. Last year, Instagram introduced Instagram Stories, and a similar feature is reportedly being tested in the main Facebook app.
Messenger Day will roll out globally today on Android and iOS. There will be an "Add to your day" button within Messenger when the app is updated to the latest version. When tapped, the user's smartphone camera is opened, a picture or video is taken, and then effects, stickers and text can be added before posting.
All of the user's Messenger contacts will be able to view the content posted for the next 24 hours, unless it is made private and only sent to a specific person or group.
It is not yet clear if users will be able to share the same stories to Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, or if they will have to create different stories for each app.
Arthur Goldstuck, World Wide Worx MD, says Facebook copying Snapchat is: "A direct response to Snapchat's appeal to a youth audience that values impermanence as a defence against prying adults and peers.
"If it's so successful for Snapchat, then clearly it represents a threat to Facebook, and if it's a natural fit for Messenger, then clearly it's a feature that must be introduced into Messenger. It's not a factor of having multiple channels on which to do this (post disappearing pictures), it's a factor of being able to do this on the channel where you are active."
Facebook attempted to acquire Snapchat in 2013 for $3 billion. Snapchat's parent company Snap recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange and was valued at $24 billion.
"The days are long gone when players in the digital and tech space can afford to ignore what the competition is doing and insist that a popular feature of a competitive product doesn't belong in their version," says Goldstuck.
"A good example is Apple, which for the last few years has been introducing features or formats in its phones which had been pioneered by their competition. To remain relevant, the market leaders have to embrace popular features of similar products produced by others."
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