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Instagram has copied Snapchat’s _____ feature that _________. On Instagram, the feature is called ______.
(Sorry, I forgot to fill in my template for articles about Instagram copying Snapchat.)
Instagram has copied Snapchat’s lens feature that applies augmented-reality masks to people’s faces. On Instagram, the feature is called face filters.
Instagram, not Snapchat.
This is the latest example of Instagram’s parent company, Facebook Inc., using Snapchat as an R&D lab. Instagram alone has already copied Stories and expiring private messages, as well as some more minor features from Snapchat, whose daily audience is less than half the size of Instagram’s. And both Facebook and Facebook Messenger had already copied Snapchat’s selfie masks.
More than likely, Instagram will also copy Snapchat’s money-making scheme for its selfie masks by pitching sponsored versions to advertisers; the app has already added between-Story ads like Snapchat. I’m waiting to hear back from an Instagram spokesperson about that. I’m also waiting to hear whether outside developers, designers and others will be able to use Facebook’s AR Studio to distribute face filters on Instagram the way they can masks on Facebook.
Instagram has also copied a couple of minor features from Snapchat: the option to edit videos to play backward and the ability to erase parts of drawings made atop photos or videos.
Instagram did add a new feature that’s not available on Snapchat: hashtags (a feature that Instagram had copied from Twitter years ago). People can add hashtags to their photos and videos, and viewers can tap on a hashtag to see related posts that use the hashtag.
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