Facebook does it again. WhatsApp launches revamped Status, cloning Snapchat

First, it was Facebook-owned Instagram. Now it is WhatsApp, another company controlled by Marck Zuckerberg. It's safe to say that Facebook is very fond of Evan Spiegel's soon-to-list unicorn and social media darling, Snapchat. In August, Instagram copied Snapchat’s popular Stories feature.

Now, WhatsApp has gone ahead and done the same. Stories is essentially a feature wherein one can share photos, videos for up to 24 hours before they disappear altogether. Furthermore, WhatsApp has allowed people to add GIFs into their Stories. The format that Snapchat invented is now becoming universal.

Stories is essentially a feature wherein one can share photos, videos for up to 24 hours before they disappear altogether. Furthermore, WhatsApp has allowed people to add GIFs into their Stories. The format that Snapchat invented is now becoming universal.

WhatsApp on Monday, 20 February, unveiled a new version of its existing plain status update simply calling it WhatsApp Status to its 1.2 billion users. Previously, one could only share a short message like, "out to lunch" or "gone to the doctor's" or maybe even something philosophical. Who knows, at the rate, they are going, Facebook might just be next. In fact, Facebook's Messenger product was revamped in December, to make sending photos a the forefront. At least Facebook hasn't made the camera the first thing that people see when the app opens.

WhatsApp though does stand out from the crowd. It added the abilities to add GIFs to Status'. They've even gone and made sure that all status updates are end-to-end encrypted (disappear means disappear). Unlike Snapchat and Instagram, WhatsApp videos can be as long as 45 seconds - a welcome addition. Also, WhatsApp status' are shared only with those in your address book and not others.

“This is a format that is being broadly adopted, and we’re adopting it as well,” product manager at WhatsApp, Randall Sarafa, told Recode. “There are some pretty interesting things that we’ve done to make it unique to WhatsApp.” Remember, Facebook had offered Spiegel $3 billion to buy Snapchat back in 2013 but that offer was turned down.