Facebook Inc. Tuesday announced the general availability of Facebook Stories that disappear after 24 hours, a nearly identical clone of Snapchat Stories.

The company has also launched a new in-app camera that comes with a variety of filters and masks for photos and videos, very similar to the filters offered by its surging competitor.

This isn’t the first time that Facebook has launched features that resemble features offered in the Snapchat app. Facebook-owned Instagram launched Stories last year while WhatsApp rolled out Status last month. The company’s messaging app, Facebook Messenger, rolled out a similar feature called Messenger Day earlier this month.

The Stories format of sharing what’s happening in your day has proved a popular feature and it will now be available to 1.7 billion Facebook users.

According to research from the performance-based marketing platform Fluent LLC, 62 percent of Snapchat users believe a better app will come along that will make them switch from Snapchat. Time will tell whether Facebook Stories will be the new feature to encourage them to make the move.

The new features are rolling out to all iOS and Android users starting this week. To get access to the new features you will need to update to the latest Facebook Android app or iOS app.

New camera effects

Facebook is introducing various masks, frames and interactive filters that are available in the new in-app camera, similar to Snapchat’s main interface. The new in-app camera also includes reactive effects, like falling snow that users can add to their photos or videos.

Users can also choose masks from upcoming movies like Alien: Covenant, Despicable Me 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Power Rangers, Smurfs: The Lost Village and Wonder Woman. Facebook has also teamed up with artists Hattie Stewart and Doug Copeland to offer users customized filters.

Unlike Snapchat though, Facebook allows users to layer multiple filters on top of each other. The new camera feature also includes some unique filters like one that makes a user look like an animated cat complete with voice modulation. While another one will make it look like a person is eating virtual pizza slices.

To access the new in-app camera, open the Facebook app > tap the camera icon in the top left corner or swipe right from the News Feed. Tap the “magic wand”-style icon at the bottom of the camera screen to access the various filters to add to your photos and videos.

Facebook Stories

Facebook introduced Instagram Stories in August, a feature very similar to Snapchat. Instagram Stories allows users to add photos and videos, adapted with various drawing tools, to Instagram throughout the day and all uploads disappear after 24 hours.

The company has now decided to launch Stories in the main Facebook app. With Facebook Stories, users will be able to share multiple photos and videos that will display in “Your Story” above the News Feed. The story will be available to view for 24 hours before it disappears and won’t appear in the News Feed or a user’s Timeline unless they decide to post the photos and videos there too.     

If you’ve been using Instagram Stories or the recently launched WhatsApp Status feature, Facebook Stories works in a very similar way. To add your story to Facebook Stories, tap the “Your Story” icon in the Stories bar at the top of News Feed or swipe right from any screen.

Instagram Stories allows you to add stickers once you have taken a photo or recorded a video. Facebook Stories, on the other hand, lets users add animated filters before they start recording with access to all the filters mentioned above in the new in-app camera. Users can then add text and scribbles afterward.

You can access your favorite filters by swiping up or down on the screen or tap the “magic wand”-style icon for additional options.  

Videos in Facebook Stories are limited to 20 seconds, double the amount of time allowed by Snapchat. As Stories won’t appear on your Timeline, you can select to share them by tapping the center arrow or tap the down arrow to save it to your camera roll.

Tap the view icon in “Your Story” to see which of your friends have viewed your Facebook Story.

Share photos and videos with specific friends

Photos and videos that you post to “Your Story” can be viewed by all your Facebook friends for 24 hours. If there are certain photos or videos that you only want certain people to see then you can use the new Direct feature.

When you share via Direct, your friends will be able to view it once and replay it or write a reply before it disappears.

Images: Facebook