Facebook Buys Masquerade App

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According to a statement from the company, Facebook has bought Masquerade.

Masquerade is an app which places filters, masks and special effects on photos and videos. Disappearing photo-sharing app Snapchat also boasts a range of filters, and it is thought that Facebook is heading off competition from the app.

Facebook Buys Masquerade App

Facebook heading off increased competition from Snapchat

Financial details of the deal have not been revealed. Facebook said that it would maintain the functionality of the app and make the technology available for its users.

“Over the past year we’ve focused on building out more creative tools for people on Facebook,” the Menlo Park, California-based company said in an e-mail. “Masquerade has great technology to help us bring even more creative tools to Facebook, and help extend this work to video.”

The company is apparently concerned by increasing competition from Snapchat, where users are able to add a whole range of outlandish photo filters. The first filter rolled out by the app made users look as though they were vomiting a rainbow while their eyes bulge.

Social media ecosystem continues to evolve

Snapchat is now charging companies to add their own filters, monetizing the feature. Masquerade has a similar raft of features including “face swap,” which lets you trade faces with someone else in your photo.

Facebook recently made a huge change, one which users have been calling for for years. The company added a new suite of reactions that sit alongside the classic like button and allow users to express their emotions more fully.

A campaign has been growing for years among users who felt that the “like” button was too limited. The social network enjoys high levels of engagement among its users and is taking steps to maintain it with the reactions suite.

If you are on Facebook you will probably have noticed that under each post there is now a tally with a series of little emojis next to it. This is the number of times that users have expressed ‘Like,’ Love,’ Haha,’ Wow,’ ‘Sad’ or ‘Angry’ for that particular post.

Facebook is doing well to add Masquerade features as it attempts to maintain and grow its user base. Have fun swapping faces and using the other weird filters!

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