Facebook to test new ‘Stories’ feature on Irish app users

Do you feel like Facebook is getting to be more like Snapchat these days? It's about to get a whole lot closer, with the social network rolling out Facebook Stories for its Irish users.

Those on both iOS and Android will see the change in the Facebook app over the next few weeks. The new format will allow you to share photos and videos with friends that won’t appear on your timeline or newsfeed, and expire 24 hours after you post them. You can, of course, choose to post your photos to your timeline to preserve them, but Facebook Stories won’t automatically do it for you.

There are the usual camera effects – masks, frames and so on – that you can add to your footage, and if your friends reply to any of your images, the messages go to your Direct inbox – another Irish test – rather than appear publicly.

Familiar

Sound familiar? It should. Snapchat Stories offers something similar and Instagram also has a "disappearing" photo and video feature, adding it last year.

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It’s all part of a shift in how we share with friends and family, and Facebook, understandably, doesn’t want to be left behind by rivals. People prefer some moments to be a temporary thing rather than a permanent share that could pop up later.

There is also the success it has had with Instagram Stories to take into account.

Facebook has been making a lot of changes to its format in recent months, shifting closer to the Snapchat model. It introduced a new camera for its app that includes frames, reactive effects and styles, and filters that can be overlaid in real time.

The current Stories mode is only being tested with Irish users, but Facebook tested “Messenger Day” in Poland last year, which offered video and images in its Messenger app that expired after 24 hours.