What Messenger's original Snapchat clone looked like.
- Facebook has ended its standalone Snapchat Stories clone for Messenger by connecting the feature to its main mobile app.
- Now Stories shared on Facebook can be posted to Messenger and vice versa.
- Facebook is hoping the feature will cause less confusion around when people should post in the different apps.
- The Stories feature is also being added to Facebook groups, events, and pages.
Facebook has shuttered its standalone Snapchat clone for Messenger.
Instead, Facebook is tying together its Snapchat clone, located in the main Facebook app, with Messenger, according to a company spokesperson. Now videos shared through Facebook's main Stories feature can be shared to Messenger and vice versa.
The result simplifies Facebook's multi-pronged effort to take on Snapchat's Stories format, which displays photos and videos shared in chronological order that disappear after 24 hours.
"People are still using the Stories format, and people want an easier way to share Stories across platforms," Facebook said in a statement shared with Business Insider. "Any photos or videos you add to your Stories will appear on both Facebook and Messenger, and will be shared with the same audience across both."
Facebook's new Stories format will use small icons to show whether a post comes a person, page, group, or event.
Additionally, Facebook has added the ability for members of a group or event page on its network to post to a collaborative Story that's visible to everyone in the group (Snapchat announced a similar feature months ago).
The Stories feature is also now available in the simplified Facebook Lite app for people without access to high-speed internet service. Facebook page administrators will have the ability to post Stories to their followers as well in the coming months.
Facebook started adding the Stories feature to its suite of apps, including WhatsApp and Instagram, last year. Now that Messenger and Facebook Stories are connected, Facebook is hoping the feature will cause less confusion around when people should post in the different apps.
The Stories format was originally a unique aspect of Snapchat, which has seen a noticeable decline in user growth since the feature was added to Instagram. Parent company Snap Inc. has failed to meet Wall Street's expectations in recent quarters and is planning a major redesign of Snapchat for next month to kick-start growth again.
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