Another Snapchat feature is coming to Facebook
Stop me if you've heard this one: Facebook is adding a feature that looks like it was lifted straight from Snapchat.
Facebook "location frames" are its answer to Snapchat's geofilters. But don't expect them to appear in your Facebook app before Christmas -- they're coming to the experimental in-app camera Facebook is testing in Ireland.
A quick refresher: For the last several weeks, Facebook has been testing a so-far unnamed camera experience in its main app in Ireland. The feature, which bears a rather striking resemblance to Snapchat, allows you take photos and privately share them with friends in a separate messaging space within Facebook.
Now, Facebook appears to doubling down on the camera's Snapchat-like features. The camera, which already allows you to augment your selfies and video with text, doodles, AI-powered filters and, yes, animated face "masks," is now getting an update that allows you to add geofilter-like "location frames" to your photos.
Just like Snapchat's geofilters, users can create and submit illustrations tied to specific locations, like a neighborhood or landmark, which other users can add to their photos. Users can also submit more general designs with illustrations not tied to a specific location.
The experimental camera isn't the only place Facebook has been tinkering with custom illustrations. Facebook has offered profile frames, which allow you too add small illustrations to your Facebook profile photo (think marriage equality or the aftermath of the Paris attacks), for some time. It's also been testing the ability for users to create their own, and that feature is getting a push, expanding to Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, the UK and Ireland. Users in those countries will be able to create and submit a profile frame (previously only page owners could design them) that can be used by anyone on Facebook.
Facebook's in-app camera is still limited to Ireland, but the new user-created profile frames will be available to everyone.
Though Facebook describes its new camera as experimental, the latest features suggest it's getting ready to ramp up its testing. The new features are launching under a newly created Camera Effects Platform, which hints at a future expansion.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
