Facebook Stories takes a hint from Snapchat

Snapchat launched Snapchat Stories, its 24-hour update collation tool, in October 2013. Now Facebook is integrating a lesson learned by Instagram, rolling out its own timeline-topping Facebook Stories feature.

Video and images shared through Facebook Stories on iOS and Android versions of the main Facebook app remain accessible for 24 hours before disappearing.

In that respect, it works just like Instagram Stories have done since August 2016, and Snapchat Stories since the temporal messaging service launched its own twist on timeline equivalency in 2013.

Facebook already has photo filters and other geolocation-sensitive filters, another feature Snapchat is known for.
Instagram was purchased by Facebook in 2012.

The emphemorality of Facebook Stories is another factor encouraging users to check their Facebook timelines on a frequent basis; positioning the tool at the top of the Facebook app emphasises the seriousness with which Facebook is taking Snapchat's challenge.

Facebook Stories is being trialled in Ireland, the Irish Independent reports, before an expected expansion internationally.