Not again! Facebook's obsession with owning Snapchat-like app has no end

Old habits die hard. After multiple failed attempts to replicate and acquire ephemeral messaging platform Snapchat, looks like the social giant is at it again. New leaked screenshots (via Mashable) hint at a new feature for group messaging that lets groups of friends privately share photos and other updates, which will then disappear after 24 hours. This feature what is known as ‘Quick Updates’ was first spotted by venture capital firm Binary Capital named Tiffany Zhong. The feature is seen in the top right corner of main app and lets you add friends to groups. You can then share photos, videos or other content in these groups, which will eventually disappear after 24 hours. It is said to be among Facebook’s several experiments with no word when the feature will be rolled out to all. It should be noted that the company has a standalone app for Groups that allows privately sharing content with groups using Moments. The only reason for doing so, could be what looks like its obsession with building a ‘successful’ Snapchat-like feature that continues to attract many. Didn’t we hear about Facebook building Snapchat-like camera app lately. We’ve already seen Snapchat-like Slingshot  fall flat on its face, and in the years, Facebook has borrowed several features from Snapchat too. As we know, Zuckerberg has followed a different ball game all along, going strong on acquisitions (of course unlike Yahoo!). Facebook has acquired or at least attempted to acquire its potential competitors or future threats. Back in 2012, it bought Instagram as the social giant was deeply associated with sharing images, and didn’t want another app popular with teens stealing its users. Reports earlier this year claiming Instagram could bring in $3.2 billion in revenue for Facebook in 2016 could probably vouch for it being one of the best moves by the company. In late 2013, Whatsapp was next potential threat to Facebook. Without wasting much time, it snapped the service for a jaw-dropping $19 billion. In March, Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel had revealed that Snapchat now gets over 8 billion views per day. In April, the company reported  10 billion daily video views. Facebook is also known to have doubled its video views late last year. There is no word on the exact current figures. However, Snapchat gets those views for its roughly over 100 million daily users who spend an average of 25 to 30 minutes on the app each day. On the other hand, Facebook has a whopping 1.2 billion active users, which is a large number compared to Snapchat.