ADVERTISEMENT
Anyone in Brazil or Canada will see a very different Facebook when they open the app today. In a move that will no doubt draw more comparisons to Snapchat, Facebook is launching its very own face filters today.
The release is intended to help users create shareable photos within Facebook, instead of importing edited pictures from your camera roll or another app. It's no surprise that the launch is happening on the same day as the Olympic opening ceremony — it was timed to coincide with the event and many of the filters are Olympic-themed.
But here's the catch: The feature is currently only available for the duration of the games and only to people living in Brazil or Canada. After that, we're likely to see a few tweaks to the tool before it is released on a wider scale.
There were rumors that Facebook would introduce lenses and filters similar to those on Snapchat when they bought visual effects company Masquerade earlier this year (which has its own facial recognition-based face-swapping technology). Speculation was further fueled at the start of this week when Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, introduced Instagram Stories. Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his wall, "This is the latest step in putting video at the center of all our services. People are already creating and sharing more video, so we're going to make it even easier."
There aren't any ridiculous filters that turn you into a living piece of toast or a dog — yet. Click through to see how the tool looks in the app and see some of the first lenses.
ADVERTISEMENT