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Caught! Facebook was caught testing a new feature by the US online magazine TechCrunch. Popular Photos is very reminiscent of Instagram.
The new feature is called "Popular Photos" and is reminiscent of the Instagram feed, as this section only displays photos from friends with the corresponding caption. When a user opens an image in full-screen mode, the feature is activated. Now, just like on Instagram, the user can view additional images with a swipe gesture – the sequence of photos is selected by the Facebook algorithm. The result feels like an Instagram visit. TechCrunch made the discovery. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the feature upon request, but no exact details were provided. TechCrunch explains the feature as follows:
"When users discover a photo in News Feed or on a profile, they can tap it to view it full-screen on a black background, like in a theater. If users want to swipe or scroll on that photo, they're usually just taken back to where they came from. But with the Popular Photos feature, Facebook displays more images that users can scroll through after the original image."
Basically, the function is interesting, if it weren't for one minor flaw. Is Facebook now becoming an Instagram clone? This is not only the suspicion of the guys at TechCrunch, but also of many other media outlets. The reason is simple - many of the functions added so far, such as stories, videos on Watch and more, were already available in Instagram. If Facebook continues down this path and adopts even more Instagram features under a different name, the blue app could quickly be labeled as a bad Instagram clone. Does that make sense? (Photo by nopparat.k / Bigstockphoto)
