Facebook takes on Snapchat with Stories, direct feature and in-app camera filters

Facebook has officially launched Stories, copying Snapchat’s main feature for the fourth time in less than a year.

After tapping the in-app camera, users can snap and share a picture that automatically disappears after 24 hours.

Like Snapchat, Facebook Stories allows users to heavily customise their pictures with filters, text, drawings, stickers, frames and animated masks.

Masks come from the likes of Alien: Covenant, Despicable Me 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Power Rangers, Smurfs: The Lost Village and Wonder Woman, which the company has partnered with.

Users can also choose to share Stories with all of their friends or a select number.

Stories is nothing new, having already launched on Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, but Facebook has decided to place it front and centre of its main product.

Friends’ Stories will sit right at the top of the News Feed in the Facebook app, so users won’t be able to miss them.

“Starting this week on iOS and Android, you can tap on the camera icon on the top left corner of the Facebook app or swipe right from News Feed to try out the new in-app camera,” said Facebook Stories product manager Connor Hayes.

“Over the coming months, we plan to introduce new ways for the Facebook community to create their own frames and effects that can be used on any photo or video created with the new Facebook camera.”

Instagram Stories has proven extremely popular since its arrival last year, and Mark Zuckerberg won’t mind that all of his company's apps are based around the same core feature, as long as Facebook Stories opens up new revenue opportunities.