Facebook messenger’s ‘day’ becomes third clone of Snapchat stories

In the social media giant’s mobile chat app, Messenger, users can now post to a feature called Day to broadcast annotated photos and videos of their life that disappear in 24 hours. That’s the same way the Snapchat app’s popular Stories tool works.

In the past few months, features that resemble Stories have been unveiled for Facebook’s WhatsApp, where it’s called Status, and Instagram, where it’s also called Stories. Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, is also testing a version of the product in its flagship social network.

Facebook is mimicking the way people communicate on Snapchat across all its properties as it works to keep up with what users might want — and to prevent them from shifting their attention to its competitor’s app. Part of Snapchat’s initial allure was its disappearing messages, which offered users relief from having to carefully curate their public personas — unlike regular Facebook or Instagram posts that might be seen by a future employer or a judgmental acquaintance.

Los Angeles-based Snap, the owner of Snapchat, held an initial public offering last week, and now has a market value of more than $25 billion. The IPO also brought up questions about the company’s growth potential, with investors raising concerns that copycatting by Facebook might prevent Snapchat from expanding its user base.