Facebook and Messenger Stories reach 300 million daily active users

Looks like Snapchat isn’t just competing with Facebook-owned Instagram. Facebook just announced that its own Facebook and Messenger Stories have now reached 300 million daily active users. A user counts as one person, so this means they won’t be counted twice. Facebook didn’t specify the breakdown between the apps though, but it must be noted that Facebook Story is automatically posted to Messenger. At the moment, Snapchat gets 188 million daily active users.

During the same announcement, Facebook has announced it will start rolling out ads in Facebook Stories similar to how Instagram Stories ads work.

Source: CNBC

You can now send TuneMoji musical GIFs to your Snapchat friends

Music GIF provider TuneMoji will now let its users send clips to their Snapchat’s Snap story or within a chat. The caveat is it needs to be done from within the TuneMoji app. But if that doesn’t seem like much of a drawback to you, then you can send these musical GIFs to whomever you want on the service. If you aren’t familiar with TuneMoji, it works similar to Giphy with its database of GIFs that can be searched by using words, phrases, or emojis and then can be shared on services that the company has partnered with. What sets it apart is that TuneMoji GIFs have a layer of music or spoken audio attached to the looping GIF.  

Source: The Verge 

Snapchat now lets you delete messages you’ve sent immediately after you sent them

Sometimes don’t you wish you can undo certain things or unsend certain messages? Well, Snapchat users now have that option. You can delete messages you’ve sent on the service (including group chats) after you’ve sent them. You just need to hold down on the message and you’ll get the option to delete it from there. Like taking screenshots on the service, those you are talking to will know you deleted a message but if they haven’t seen it yet, then they don’t have to know what you just sent, saving you the embarrassment of having to explain yourself.

Source: Hello Giggles

Snapchat reportedly plans to release dev kit

If reports are to be believed, you might be able to see a “Log in with Snapchat” option in non-Snapchat apps. TechCrunch reports that Snap is planning to launch a full-fledged developer platform it’s calling Snapkit. This platform will let third-party developers do things like the aforementioned being able log into their apps with Snapchat credentials, or use Snapchat’s camera (and even share back to Snapchat), or even use Bitmoji avatars in their apps. This move might help bring back the followers it’s lost or even attract new users, especially for those wary of using Facebook to sign into new services now. And since Snapchat asks for less information, it might be less risky if a site with your Snapchat login will compromise too much information. It isn’t clear thought which apps will offer login first, this might be dependent on which companies Snap can convince to partner with them. If this does come true, are you willing to use the “Log in with Snapchat” option?