Instagram copies Snapchat’s Stories, names it the same thing

In the world of social media, the me-too mentality thrives. Facebook was a complete copy of Friendster and now Instagram (which is also owned by Facebook) is taking a play from its mother company and outright copying the competition. Instagram is introducing a new feature called Stories. And yes, it shares the same name as the Snapchat feature it’s gotten its inspiration from.

For those unfamiliar with how Snapchat works, the users can upload photos and videos that stay up on the service for 24 hours for your followers to see. Basically, it shows your adventure or “story,” if you will. What Instagram is doing is almost exactly the same thing. You can share photos and video clips that are up to 10 seconds long and draw or add stickers to these photos and videos, too. And yes, after 24 hours they’re off Instagram as well.

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Snapchat on iOS lets you swap faces with any photo in your camera roll

Snapchat’s new update for its iOS apps brings a nifty new feature we’ll probably see people playing around with a lot. The app will let you face swap with any photo in your camera roll. When you select the face swap button in the masking features, you’ll see a second face swap button appear next to the original. This purple button has a little camera icon to let you swap with a photo from your camera roll.

The latest update also brings with it the ability to replay a snap one more time for free. Snapchat used to charge $0.99 for this feature. But they seem to have found a different way to make a quick buck. You can’t purchase any more extra replays from the app either. No word yet when the new feature will make its way to Android but we should hear from them soon.

Source: The Next Web | Download: iTunes App Store (Free)

Snapchat boosts chat features with Chat 2.0

Screenshot courtesy of Daily Mail

Snapchat is honing in on its competitors with the new features the messaging service integrates into its app. Its new Chat 2.0 hopes to bring a more intuitive chatting experience for its users. The feature makes it easier to share videos, short audio notes, and stickers to help you communicate with friends within the app. As stated on Snapchat’s blog: “What we love about the new Chat is how easily you can transition between all these ways of communicating—just like you do in person. When that’s possible, you aren’t texting, calling, or video chatting… you’re just talking.”

The app also gets a new Auto-Advance Stories feature that lets stories from your friends play one after another. You can swipe to skip ahead in a story or pull down to exit completely.

Source: Droid Life

Snapchat acquires Bitmoji maker for US$100 million

In what looks like a way to compete with Facebook in the mobile messaging market, Snapchat has snapped up Bitmoji creator, Bitstrips Inc., for over $100 million USD in cash and stock. If you’re unfamiliar with the Bitmoji app, it lets users create cartoon avatars based on themselves that they can send via a special smartphone keyboard. This acquisition is seen to help Snapchat further its library of visual filters and lenses to its over 100 million users. Earlier this month, Facebook bought Masquerade Technologies to let users enhance their videos with filters and “swap” faces with someone else in the picture, a popular feature on Snapchat.

Source: MarketWatch