Facebook's most blatant Snapchat clone
Facebook's been fairly shameless in its copying of Snapchat thus far, but today a new feature in testing is probably the mostĀ blatantĀ rip-off: Snapchat's core streaks feature.
Yes, it's copied it right down to the emoji (but added two instead of one, just for extra confusion). Facebook's version sells it as a way to see "fun facts" but it's incredibly obvious how directly this has been copied down to the execution and way it's pushed on users.
Look, I think there'sĀ nothingĀ proprietary about Snapchat and Facebook is well within its rights to do things like this but itĀ isĀ surprising that the cloning is so blatant. It started with just the stories feature, then extended into almost every other feature area.Ā
As for Snap, its growth has stalled... so mission succeeded? IĀ had thought that ephemeral messaging would be able to continue a ridiculous growth trajectory but it appears Facebook is well on its way to owning it entirely.Ā
Instagram's stories rip-off now has more than double the users of Snapchat, at 300 million. I guess Snap's supposed brand appeal might not be as sticky as once thought - I suspect at some point in the future, Snap might have to sell itself off for scraps if it's not able to turn this aroundĀ soon.Ā
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