Facebook is taking another page out of Snapchat's playbook.
On Thursday the social network announced selfie filters for live video, which will initially be themed for Halloween. The new feature will be available in Facebook's iPhone app in the U.S., U.K., and New Zealand and eventually come to Android.
The selfie filters, which Facebook is calling Live Masks, use augmented reality to turn you into things like a skull or pumpkin. They of course look very similar to Snapchat's Lenses, which have become a meaningful source of revenue for the growing app through sponsorship deals with companies like Taco Bell.
Facebook bought the app MSQRD earlier this year to power its selfie masks, although this is the first time the company has incorporated MSQRD's tech into the main Facebook app.
Adding goofy filters to live video is likely intended to encourage normal people to stream on Facebook. Media outlets and celebrities are paid to share live video on Facebook, but broadcasting live lacks the casualness that apps like Snapchat provide.
Expect to see more camera-related updates to Facebook in the coming weeks. Facebook head of product Chris Cox recently said that the company is "very invested” in making the camera “a creative tool."
“It’s an area of work we’re really invested in, which is making it easy for the camera to be an early application of AR," he said at the Wall Street Journal's tech conference in California earlier this week.
One update Facebook has already teased is the ability to add artistic, Prisma-like filters to live video that mimic the styles of famous paintings. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demoed the feature on Wednesday and said it would be available "soon."
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See Also:
- Facebook plans to show more potentially offensive and 'newsworthy' posts in your News Feed
- Facebook has a big new ad campaign for live video
- Steve Ballmer says Microsoft once tried to buy Facebook for $24 billion
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