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There are only so many flaws that the dog filter can hide – and a blatant rip-off definitely isn’t one of them.
Snapchat; from the iconic filters to the customizable Geotags, the concepts originated by the photo-swapping app have revolutionized the way we communicate in the 21st century. The little faceless ghost has quickly become not only a girl’s best friend but a social diary. Through its “Stories” feature, Snapchat gives us an opportunity to document our busy lives day by day before it all disappears 24 hours later, allowing us to make new memories, our slate wiped clean from the day before. Our Snapchat Stories have seen our highs, lows, and everything in between- but now, Facebook’s newest feature threatens to steal all of Snapchat’s glory. At least, that’s what they intended to do.
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But the announcement of Facebook’s new “My Day” feature elicited nothing more than a collective eye roll from the Internet generation, prompting a jaded, “Seriously? Another social media app trying to rip off Snapchat?” from all of us avid Snapchat users. Instagram was the first to steal Snapchat’s thunder when it released its own “Stories” feature back in August and has existed stagnantly ever since. And now with Facebook jumping on the bandwagon nearly 8 months later, society has “been there, done that” not once, but twice now.
Most social media applications have adopted the mindset that they must become the ultimate, all-consuming platform; if one app adds a new feature, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of our favorite apps do too. Competition has always existed between the popular social apps of our time but seemed to accelerate when Instagram added its video feature in 2013, which to many seemed like a blatant rip-off of Vine (the now retired 6-second clip-sharing app). After this, it seemed as if somebody fired a gun, indicating the start of the race to the finish line- or in this case, the race to become the world’s most versatile social media application. And Facebook has been doing whatever it takes to edge out into first place, primarily by stealing their ideas from social media concepts already in existence.
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Not long after Twitter’s Periscope took off as a live video-sharing platform, Facebook released its Facebook Live component. Within Facebook Live, users are even able to utilize Geofilters and funny face filters, just like the ones used in Snapchats. Facebook has also updated and reconfigured its Messenger space, adding its own feature where you take and send photos and videos on the spot, with Snapchat-esque features like stickers and a drawing tool. Basically, Facebook embedded its own version of Snapchat right into the Messenger app. It’s even formatted almost identically. Recently, Facebook even added QR codes to every profile, allowing others to scan your screen to add you to their friend’s list. Sound familiar? Facebook isn’t just a copycat- it’s a Snapchat copycat. And society has caught on.
But despite countless attempts to become the photo-sharing phenomena that Snapchat has grown into, Facebook hasn’t taken down the little ghost yet. With 150 million active users and growing, Snapchat continues to be a social media powerhouse, consistently updating its software with creative features and new concepts. Facebook may try to undermine Snapchat’s success with more blatant rip-offs of successful ideas, but we will all know who reigns supreme and who should be written off as a wannabe. Facebook is now known as the Snapchat Copycat- and unlike their knockoff Stories, that’s one reputation that won’t disappear after 24 hours.
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