{"id":3972,"date":"2017-03-09T15:34:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T15:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/facebook-messenger-day-launches-as-a-snapchat-stories-clone-for-making-plans.html"},"modified":"2017-03-09T15:34:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T15:34:39","slug":"facebook-messenger-day-launches-as-a-snapchat-stories-clone-for-making-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/facebook-messenger-day-launches-as-a-snapchat-stories-clone-for-making-plans.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Messenger Day launches as a Snapchat Stories clone for making plans"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

Today Facebook is globally launching<\/a> Messenger Day to put a utilitarian spin on the slideshow format. While Snapchat Stories is for retelling what you\u2019ve done, Messenger Day\u2019s \u201cWho\u2019s up for?\u201d filters and Active Now indicators help you find friends to chat and meet up with.<\/p>\n

Now after gaining millions of users through tests in a dozen countries like Poland<\/a> and Australia<\/a>, Messenger Day is rolling out for everyone at the top of Facebook\u2019s chat app with today\u2019s iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a> updates, plus in desktop messaging threads. The feature lets you share decorated photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours with the public or a custom friend.<\/p>\n

If Messenger Day catches on, it could encourage visual communication<\/a> through Messenger\u2019s newly enhanced camera<\/a>, jumpstart chat threads, and get friends together offline.\u00a0And Facebook\u2019s VP of messaging David Marcus tells me Day will \u201cprobably\u201d insert advertisements between posts to become one of Messenger\u2019s first revenue streams.<\/p>\n

Alongside WhatsApp Status<\/a>, Instagram Stories<\/a>, and Facebook Stories<\/a>, Messenger Day could use convenience to compete with Snapchat for user growth, which has become a key weakness for Snap<\/a> as it goes public. A billion people already use Messenger, after all. Snap\u2019s share price dipped slightly this morning as Messenger Day was announced.<\/p>\n

The launch demonstrates Facebook\u2019s philosophy that while Snapchat may have invented Stories, it\u2019s actually a fundamental content medium bigger than any one company. Facebook is not afraid to copy, no matter what critics say. All that matters is whether its valuable to users.<\/p>\n

People will naturally ask why they need another place to share, and maybe they don\u2019t. But if Messenger can reimagine the Stories format around usefulness instead of just fun without inconveniencing the rest of the chat app, it could spur us to make more memories instead of just consuming old ones.<\/p>\n

Hands-On With Messenger Day<\/h2>\n

\u201cThis about today. It\u2019s not about yesterday. It\u2019s not about tomorrow\u201d Marcus tells me. \u201cThe 2 key functionalities are 1. I\u2019m going to set context because it\u2019s going to make for better conversations if people know where I am and what I\u2019m doing. And 2. It\u2019s about where I want to take my day, like \u2018I\u2019m bored and I want to go out for coffee\u2019 or \u2018I want to go see a movie\u2019 so I\u2019m going to use a frame, take a photo, and see which of my friends are going to engage with me to actually make that plan, because planning is one of the core capabilities of a messaging app.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I got to spend yesterday trying Messenger Day on my own, and was impressed by how it accomplished both those objectives without adding friction to the app.<\/p>\n

Watching<\/h3>\n

Messenger Day appears above your chat threads on Messenger\u2019s home screen, employing the same bold design that helped Instagram Stories rocket to 150 million daily users<\/a> in 5 months. There you\u2019ll see thumbnail tiles previewing the Days of friends, instead of just a name and profile pic. They\u2019re reverse chronologically ordered to help you make plans with people sharing now. You can tap to fast-forward or rewind, and hold to pause, with your next friend\u2019s Day appearing right after the last. That auto-advance style will make it easy to insert ads between Days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s no Like counter, Messenger lets you instantly reply privately to a Day with custom or pre-filled messages like \u201chaha\u201d, \u201cWow\u201d, a heart, or a \u2018100\u2019 emoji that show in your chat thread with that person. This drops the barrier for turning a broadcast into a conversation that can feel a bit daunting in Snapchat. And if you\u2019re already chatting with someone who\u2019s posted, you\u2019ll see a call out on mobile and Facebook\u2019s desktop site to watch their Day.<\/p>\n

One special feature that Snapchat doesn\u2019t have: Active Now. You\u2019ll see a green dot on the Messenger Days of friends who are currently available to chat with on the app. That breaks the ice to push users from seeing a friend doing something fun to asking if they can come join.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sharing<\/h3>\n

Messenger\u2019s big camera redesign from December seems tailor-made to boost Day usage. You can post by tapping the big shutter button at the bottom, the \u201cAdd To Your Day\u201d spot at the top, or from a prompt when you share imagery in a thread. Sharing options include natively shot photos and 15-second videos, as well as uploaded media including GIFs that are shown inset with a black border to denote they\u2019re old. You manually can save what you share frame by frame.<\/p>\n

\"\"By default, posts are visible to \u201cEveryone except\u201d specific people you block. However, Facebook says that only people who have permission to message you like Facebook friends will see your Days at the top of their app. You can also choose a specific list of people who can watch your Days, and this applies to everything you post, rather than having to be set each time. You\u2019ll also have the option to send posts to friends directly as well as sharing to your Day. You\u2019ll see the faces of people who\u2019ve seen your Day at the bottom of the posts.<\/p>\n

Before or after you share, you can embellish your content with drawing, text captions, animated selfie lenses, environmental effects like overlaid bubbles or lava lamp colors, style-transfers that make your image look like a painting or sketch, virtual \u2018Dress Up\u2019 props, speech bubbles, stickers, and over 5000 illustrated filters.<\/p>\n

This is where Messenger Day\u2019s unique slant on Stories for messaging comes in. The searchable, categorized filters include calls to action like \u201cWho\u2019s up for grabbing coffee?\u201d, \u201cRoad trip\u201d, \u201cMovie night?\u201d, \u201cLet\u2019s grab drinks\u201d, \u201cLet\u2019s go for a run\u201d, and tons more. These make it easy and fun to invite friends to hang out with you offline. And unlike posting \u201cwho wants to grab dinner?\u201d on Facebook where a lack of responses could make you look unpopular, the posts disappear and all replies in Messenger Day are private so you don\u2019t have to worry about seeming lonely.<\/p>\n

And in case there\u2019s not the right filter for you, Messenger Day can take any text you write and turn it into a filter, like with your friend\u2019s name or the place you\u2019re at. These computer-generated filters make the creative options in Messenger Day ostensbily infinite.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Missing<\/h3>\n

Overall, Messenger Day felt less interruptive and more seamless than I expected. Like Instagram Stories, it\u2019s easy to ignore if you don\u2019t care about it. Still, there\u2019s plenty of missing features I immediately wish it had, including:<\/p>\n