Facebook has always shown signs of envy when it comes to its competitors. First hashtags and trending topics came. Then the ill-fated Poke app. Now, "Instagram Stories" are clearly inspired by Snapchat Stories (you couldn't even come up with a name other than Stories, guys?) and they sport the same features: 24-hour shelf life, doodles, text, and emojis. No word yet on filters or lenses, but it seems like it would be a huge miss to skip out on them. I imagine they will be introduced if this takes off.
I'll still be trying it out, though I am a bit skeptical that it will overtake Snapchat right away.
UPDATE: It looks like Facebook has been toying with this for a while. Just a few weeks ago a similar feature called "Quick Updates" was being tested with select users in the Facebook app itself. Today it launches in the Instagram app. Instagram seems like a more fitting home for this functionality, so I think this was a smart change on their part.
