First Instagram, then Facebook, now WhatsApp is rolling out with the ‘Stories’ feature

WhatsApp has announced that there will be a change to its existing status feature. What kind of a change? Well, something along the lines of being able to post pictures or videos that vanish after 24 hours.

Back in 2013, Facebook had offered a hefty sum to buy over the brief messaging app, Snapchat. Ever since the owner of the app turned them down, Facebook along with some of its top apps like Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger have been trying to imitate the photo-sharing features created by Snapchat.

Now instead of posting a short message like “At the movies”, the new feature allows users to share photos and videos in a montage format for 24 hours before they disappear. Though, there are elements to this feature that makes it unique in a way. For example, you can now share GIFs on your Status, and these posts are said to be end-to-end encrypted. Videos can be recorded for up to 45 seconds in contrast to 10 seconds like on the other platform.

The Status feature is set to get its own tab in between calls and chats, making posting something easily accessible. WhatsApp Status updates you create are visible to your contacts by default, though you can change them to My contacts except… or Only share with… as well.

Within this tab you should be able to see different groups, namely: My Status, which allows you to view you most recent post and who has viewed them. Recent Updates, which enables you to see status updates that your friends have created in the last 24 hours. Viewed Updates, which is, well, self explanatory; and lastly Muted, which allows you to see updates from contacts whom you have muted.

The feature goes into beta in France and the Netherlands today, with a global roll-out expected in the near future. There is no official said date as to when we Malaysians will be getting the update but we’ll keep our eyes peeled.

[SOURCE, 2, 3, 4]