It seems that when Facebook is about to make some tweaks on its platform or plan to introduce a service, the go-to place for its creative team is not the brainstorming room. Instead, they head straight to Snapchat.
This is demonstrated in the recent feature that the world's largest social media network is introducing: Camera Effects.
Facebook Camera Effects
Essentially, Camera Effects involves the addition of custom profile frames in uploaded photos and videos. Snapchat fans will probably raise a mighty ruckus because this feature closely resembles the app's popular Geofilter feature.
"People can add frames when creating a profile picture or video and in the camera on Facebook," the company said.
To be fair, Facebook is also introducing some innovations of its own if you can call them that. The Camera Effects is, for instance, also being targeted towards businesses, causes and individual users who are planning an event.
Submitting Facebook Photo Frame
The social media network made up for the less than novel concept by outlining an incredibly detailed step-by-step guide on how to create and upload a frame.
For graphic designers, that procedure should be quite basic. But the rest of the world might find it challenging to get past the first step wherein one needs to create a graphic image and save it as PNG file, with its transparency retained.
There are also specific guidelines in order for a frame to go live. It is best to understand what Facebook is really gunning for by studying its published template.
Facebook also wants to approve the frames before they get posted online. The company probably wants to avoid the deluge of materials that can spread hate and abuse, among others.
Out of all these, the less artistic lot can probably take heart from the fact that they can head to some form of photo frame section in the future when they feel like framing their selfie and just use a submitted work.
In-App Camera Service
One should remember that the photo frames initiative will be part of an in-app camera service that is currently being tested in Ireland. Observers cite that this feature, which includes the capability to animate a photo or video through masks and filter overlays, has also been poached from Snapchat and other apps like Prisma.
Here, users can overlay frame when taking a photograph and even add location details, a function that has so far underscored its similarity to Snapchat's geofilters.
Presently, the Camera Effects Platform is only rolling out in Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, the U.K. and Ireland. According to Tech Crunch, these locations were chosen because they have the most Facebook users displaying their profile photos sporting frames.
