Instagram goes after BeReal and Twitter with new features

By Emily Bary

Meta app is testing a function that lets users share photos from their front and back cameras at a given time, and doing a broader rollout of text-based status updates

Meta Platforms Inc. is planning services that appear remarkably similar to BeReal and Twitter, continuing a pattern of cloning social-media competitors’ services.

Facebook parent company Meta (META) is running a test of Candid Stories, which sends Instagram users a daily prompt asking them to share a photo from their front- and back-facing camera lenses. If the feature sounds familiar, that’s because it is: BeReal has seen growing popularity, especially among younger users, for its app built around that function, which taps into a desire for more candid sharing.

The Wall Street Journal noted Instagram was testing this feature in South Africa and that the company had yet to say when or if it planned to roll out Candid Stories more widely. The story also highlighted that Instagram will let users annotate posts “with text or squiggles,” unlike BeReal.

A new function receiving a broader push is Notes, which lets Instagram users send short status updates consisting of text and emojis. Users will be able to choose whether the “note” will be visible to friends they mutually follow or accounts on their Close Friends list, and then those groupings will see the status update at the top of their inboxes, with the ability to reply.

Move over, TikTok: Social media has ‘a new king in town’ in BeReal

“During testing, we learned that people liked having a lightweight, easy way to share what’s on their mind and start conversations,” Meta said in a blog post detailing the new features. “From asking for recommendations to sharing what they’re up to, Notes give people a casual and spontaneous way to express themselves and connect with each other.”

The ability to share short text posts that could lead to conversation is, of course, a hallmark of Twitter’s platform.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Notes “will begin rolling out to all users Tuesday.”

Meta is known for copying the Stories feature from Snap Inc.’s (SNAP) Snapchat and building its short-form Reels product to mimic TikTok. The strategy has paid off in many ways.

While Snapchat introduced the Stories format to the world, they are now hugely popular on Instagram. The company has also been pushing the Reels format after seeing how captivating short-form video proved on TikTok, and though effective monetization of Reels remains a work in progress, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on the company’s last earnings call that users across Facebook and Instagram were playing more than 140 billion Reels a day, up 50% from six months prior.

The company may have a tougher time eating Twitter’s lunch with the new Notes feature, since Twitter is fairly well-entrenched and has built out extensive functionality for text-based status sharing. But Meta and Instagram boast massive user bases and could come to see decent adoption of the Candid Stories feature upon a broader rollout, especially since many users may not even be aware that BeReal exists.

Still, it’s perhaps not a great sign for Meta’s innovative capacities that instead of driving the narrative on social-media preferences, the company has to follow up on trends proven out by other platforms.

Meta seems to be leaning into its strengths in one other area with its feature improvements, though the change comes somewhat belatedly. Facebook remains a hub for group activity, and Meta intends to bring the group atmosphere over to Instagram. It teased the coming launch of Group Profiles, through which people will be able to post content to a dedicated hub.

“Whenever you share content to a Group Profile, that content will only be shared to group members instead of your followers, and will be posted on the Group Profile instead of your own,” Meta shared in a blog post, noting that the feature was coming “soon.”

Meta shares were up 4.7% in midday trading Tuesday. The company may be a step closer to getting help on one of its competitive pressures, as Sen. Marco Rubio and a pair of House colleagues introduced bills seeking to ban TikTok in the U.S, though it remains to be seen whether those efforts will gain broader traction.

-Emily Bary

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-13-22 1412ET

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