On March 28, Facebook launched the feature Facebook Stories, which allows users to post temporary collections of photos and videos. It mimics a capability that was originally created for Snapchat and came to Instagram last August. So, how long do Facebook stories stay up? They're pretty much just like Instagram stories: They stay up for 24 hours before disappearing into the ether, or wherever stories go when they die.
Through Facebook Stories, which is currently available worldwide on iOS and Android, you can share bits and pieces of your life as a slide show, which your friends can react to and comment on. Their reactions and comments will also disappear after 24 hours. If you don't want to share it with all your friends, you can just select a subset.
One fun thing about the new addition is that it lets you add stickers, doodles, and text and use filters designed by artists Hattie Stewart and Douglas Coupland. For the first time on Facebook, you can use animated face filters and scribble on your photos with a chalk tool. Another difference from the Instagram feature is that you swipe up and down instead of left and right.
"We want to make it fast, fun and easy for people to share creative photos and videos with whomever they choose, for however long they choose — and the more we share with each other, the more open and connected our community can be," Facebook product manager Connor Hayes said in a blog post announcing the news.
Instagram recently launched a feature that lets you save Instagram stories to your phone after you share them. You can't save Facebook Stories in their entirety, so the stories truly are temporary, which could encourage people to share tidbits of their lives less self-consciously. But you can save individual photos and videos within them to your camera roll. And for less fleeting videos, you can use Facebook Live, which lets you save videos to your camera roll.
To try out the new Stories feature, log onto Facebook on your phone and touch the picture of a camera in the upper left corner or go to the newsfeed and swipe right. Then, it'll prompt you to create your story and select who you share it with. If you share it with everyone, they'll see it in a new top portion of their screens called "Stories." If you share it with just a few people, they'll see it in a more private section labeled "Direct." Happy broadcasting!
