Instagram Stories, WhatsApp status hit 300M users
As Facebook posted an increase in its daily and monthly active users in the third quarter financial results, the features of its subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp also seem to have done well-- the social media apps have recorded growth with active users touching the 300 million mark.
On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that 'Instagram Stories' and 'WhatsApp Status' both now have 300 million daily active users -- up from a combined 250 million for the photo sharing app Instagram in June and messaging app WhatsApp in July.
The features, which are the clones of rival app Snapchat, now boast numbers almost twice the size of the original that has 173 million daily active users.
Most of Facebook products, including 'Instagram Stories', 'Facebook Stories' and 'Messenger Day', now have their own Augmented Reality (AR) face filters. What this would mean for the users is that they could now see more innovation in the coming years.
According to TechCrunch, Facebook might also copy Snapchat's Bitmoji personalised avatars and Snap Map location-sharing feature as well.
Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Wehner on Wednesday said Facebook would boost its expenses 45-60 per cent in 2018 in order to fund security efforts following the Russian intrusion as well as in furthering original video content, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and AR.
Last month Facebook rolled out a feature that lets users share 'Instagram Stories' directly to 'Facebook Stories'.
While the option to post 'Facebook Stories' to 'Instagram Stories' has not come yet, the company said it might bring it in the near future.
Meanwhile, Snapchat, which is expected to report earnings on November 7, managed to add only seven million daily active users in the second quarter of 2017.
In the second quarter that ended June 30, Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc reported a loss of $443 million, with $181 million as revenue which was still below analysts' expectations of $186 million.
