Guess What Facebook is Testing Now

Facebook is testing this feature on versions of the Messenger application for the smartphones which are powered by Apple or Android software.

Facebook is working on a feature similar to Snapchat that would allow people to send messages that automatically disappear after a certain amount of time.

Facebook is testing Snapchat-style disappearing messages within its Messenger app in France, offering users the ability to set a message to self-destruct an hour after it is sent.

CNet reports that Facebook said via a message to their site, “Disappearing messages gives people another fun option to choose from when they communicate on Messenger”. Anyone in that chat can enable or disable the feature at any time from within the thread by just tapping the hourglass icon.

That hourglass allows you to tap it so your Facebook message will get blown back into oblivion in an hour’s time, like it was never there!

Facebook has made available this feature for the users in France on Thursday.

According to Techcrunch, the new feature’s appeal is in its close echo to real life conversations by introducing video and quick-selfie visual conversations as well as read receipts.

Although the ephemeral messaging option will be able to boost Facebook Messenger’s popularity with its 700 million users, this feature is not new and is seen as Facebook’s attempt at taking a shot at Snapchat, its biggest messaging competitor.

As with Snapchat, users can always screenshot the chat window to save a photo of the messages – athough it is unknown if Facebook will send a notification that this has happened. In the past, Facebook had also tried to acquire Snapchat for $3 billion dollar, but the offer was turned down CEO Evan Spiegel.

This may be a good defensive move for the social network. It has initiated experimenting a personal digital assistant namely “M” within its Messenger service.

The self-deleting message feature is limited to France for now, but Facebook told Buzzfeed it might roll it out elsewhere in future. Yet, the company has not revealed whether the feature comes to India or not.