Facebook rips off Snapchat AGAIN with redesigned ‘Nearby Friends’ tool that looks almost identical to Snap Maps
- Facebook is testing a redesign of its ‘Nearby Friends’ tool that launched in 2014
- The redesign takes some obvious inspiration from Snapchat, due to its interactive map where users can see friends location based on neighborhood
- Like the original version, users only see friends’ approximate location on the map
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Facebook is taking some obvious inspiration from Snapchat for its latest feature.
The social media giant is revamping its ‘Nearby Friends’ tool by testing a new design that looks nearly identical to rival Snapchat’s ‘Snap Maps.’
Nearby Friends was originally launched in 2014 as a way for users to ‘discover’ when their friends are nearby, but it looks like Facebook is hoping to kickstart usage of the feature by making it more interactive.
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The social media giant is revamping its ‘Nearby Friends’ tool by testing a new design that looks nearly identical to rival Snapchat’s ‘Snap Maps.’ Pictured is the feature’s original design
When it was first launched, users could browse through a list of friends’ profiles which were categorized by neighborhood.
It would also show how many miles away friends were from the user and how long ago they were in that approximate location.
However, the feature was optional and, according to some users, wasn’t very popular since its roll out four years ago.
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The new design being tested shows a location of people on a map grouped together by city, according to TechCrunch.
There’s still a ‘view list’ button in the right-hand corner, which opens up the old homescreen.
Like the previous feature, users can only see an approximate location, not coordinates.
The redesign looks very similar to Snapchat’s Snap Maps (right). Details of the redesign were discovered by Jane Manchun Wong, inside the code of Facebook’s Android app
It also remains an optional feature.
‘We’re testing a new design for Nearby Friends, a tool people have used for the past four years to meet with their friends in person,’ a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch.
‘People have complete control over whether to use Nearby Friends or not. They can turn it on in the Nearby Friends bookmark.’
Screenshots of the new design show that it looks very similar to Snap Maps, which lets user zoom in and click on users’ profiles in an interactive map.
When ‘Nearby Friends’ was first launched, users could browse through a list of friends’ profiles which were categorized by neighborhood. It was also an optional feature users had to turn on
In Snap Maps, users could also view their friends’ geo-tagged Snapchat Stories, which made it easy for them to figure out what events are going on in their neighborhood.
It increasingly became a tool for news discovery too, as users began uploading videos during natural disasters, shootings and other breaking events.
It’s unclear if Facebook plans to integrate any Stories capabilities in its Nearby Friends feature.
Details of the redesign were discovered by Jane Manchun Wong, a frequent tipster and a computer science student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
HOW HAS FACEBOOK COPIED SNAPCHAT OVER THE YEARS?
March 2016 – Filters
One of the first signs Facebook was copying Snapchat was in March 2016 when it bought MSQRD, an app that overlays silly live filters to your selfies.
The app lets users apply filters to their faces – similar to Snapchat ‘Lens’ filters.
One of the first signs Facebook was copying Snapchat was in March 2016 when it bought MSQRD, an app that overlays silly live filters to your selfies. The app lets users apply filters to their faces (pictured right) – similar to Snapchat ‘Lens’ filters (pictured left)
April 2016 – QR codes
In April of last year, Facebook added QR codes to profiles in Messenger.
Snapchat uses QR codes to allow people to add other users without having to search.
December 2016 – Location-based filters and in-app camera
Facebook introduced custom location-based camera filters that overlay pictures and videos – similar to Snapchat’s ‘geo-filters’.
Users build ‘frames’ on any design platform, submit them to Facebook and then friends nearby will have access to the creations.
In the same month, a ‘Messenger Camera’ was designed to make it quicker to capture and share photos and videos without having to dip out of a conversations – a feature that already existed on Snapchat.
In December, Facebook introduced custom location-based camera filters (pictured right) that overlay pictures and videos – similar to Snapchat’s ‘geo-filters’ (pictured left)
March 2017 – Stories
In March, Facebook introduced Facebook Stories along with two other new Snapchat-like features – Facebook Camera and Direct.
Facebook Stories highlights decorative content in a horizontal layout over News Feed that disappears in 24 hours – just like Snapchat Stories.
Facebook Stories (pictured right) highlights decorative content in a horizontal layout over News Feed that disappears in 24 hours – just like Snapchat Stories (pictured left)
The section in the app called ‘Direct’ appears to be very similar to Snapchat’s feed for one-to-one group messaging.
The update encourages users to use Facebook’s camera feature and also lets them put friends’ stories at the top of their News Feed.
In the same month it also introduced ‘Messenger Day’, which lets user share photos and videos with illustrated filters and stickers that vanish in 24 hours – just like Snapchat Stories.
November 2017 – Streaks
In November, Facebook copied Snapchat by testing a new feature that encourages friends to send messages back and forth for consecutive days.
Like ‘Snapstreaks’ on Snapchat, Facebook Messenger ‘Streaks’ have emoji next to the name of anyone who users are regularly messaging.
According to Facebook, this will encourage users to ‘keep your streak going’.
In March, Facebook introduced ‘Messenger Day’, which lets user share photos and videos with illustrated filters and stickers that vanish in 24 hours – just like Snapchat Stories
January 2018 – Screenshots
In January, Instagram, the Facebook-owned app, began testing a feature that lets your followers know if you’ve taken a sneaky screenshot of their Story.
The Snapchat-inspired feature is expected to launch on the picture-sharing platform soon and is currently being trialled in Japan.
May 2018 – Bitmoji
As with Filters, Snaps, and Stories, Facebook revealed it is duplicating the Bitmoji feature used on Snapchat.
Within the code of Facebook’s Android app, developers have found an unreleased functionality that lets users ‘build personalized, illustrated versions of themselves for use as stickers in Messenger and comments.’
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