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WhatsApp vs. SnapChat: Whatsapp introduce familiar feature

Other | Wednesday 8th March 2017 | Idrees

WhatsApp users should have noticed that there has been an update to the app, providing us with a brand-new feature.

Well ‘brand-new’ may be pushing it a bit, but WhatsApp have recently come out with a self-destructing Status tool, which allows us to updated statuses by sharing videos, pictures, GIFS as well as drawing on top of them.

You must be asking yourself, doesn’t this sound familiar?

Why yes! This is pretty much the exact same feature which made Snapchat so popular. So much so that when the company filed for its multi-million dolloar IPO at the beginning for February, they mentioned that other companies are “mimicking” the idea for user stories which disappear.

They aren’t exactly wrong about that.

WhatsApp co-founder and CEO, Jan Koum, mentioned in a blog post: “We are rolling out an update to status, which allows you to share photos and videos with your friends or contacts on WhatsApp in an easy and secure way,"

WhatsApp weren’t the first to jump on this train, as Instagram, who like WhatsApp are owned by Facebook, integrated their own ‘Instagram Stories’. When asked by Wired about the copy-cat addition, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom mentioned: "All of these ideas are original when you remix them and bring your own flavour."

Facebook’s Messenger are also beginning to test out ‘stories’ as they have a feature called ‘Messenger Day’, which are available in limited number of countries.

It’s only a matter of time until we’ll see dog filters everywhere. 

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