Snapchat could have become a very different app if Facebook‘s proposed $3 billion buyout had come to fruition in 2013. Alas, the company persevered and has gone on to become one of the most influential services of the digital age. Facebook still seemingly wants its cut of the pie, though, and tested a very similar feature to Snapchat’s core mechanic: disappearing posts.
In a test run given to some Facebook users some time ago, the social media site unveiled a new feature called “Quick Updates.” The feature, accessed through a smiley face that appears on a user’s Facebook app, enables users to add friends to groups in which any text, photos or videos posted to that group disappear within 24 hours. This feature draws obvious comparisons to Snapchat’s disappearing content, but a Facebook representative told Digital Spy that the feature was only tested to a small pool of users and that the company had no future plans to launch it across all users. It remains to be seen what comes of this feature or any other future features that take a page out of Snapchat’s book.