Facebook acquired MSQRD back in March. Ever since, I’ve been itching to find out how they’d use the AR-based Snapchat competitor.
Today, my curiosity can be put to rest.
Facebook Live now offers MSQRD’s filters.
The addition seems to be two-fold. You can go live directly on Facebook’s app, or use your MSQRD app, which will ask you to connect to Facebook live.
The question now becomes – Do users prefer a wider public audience or is ephemeral messaging what will continue to propel Snapchat to the top?
When you think of the ecosystems, I think Facebook’s biggest advantage is also it’s biggest disadvantage. The younger generation is preferring to not have their posts stored and saved for public viewing. If this continues to be the case, MSQRD may only be adopted by those paid content producing celebrities that are being asked to leverage Facebook Live.
Either way, this is an interesting convergence of technologies for so many reasons:
- It brings augmented reality more to the masses
- Live streaming is now an acceptable method of communication/marketing
- Privacy continues to be a major polarization factor for users
Two things can happen from here:
- Facebook offers ephemeral messaging AND figures out a way to lure in the younger generation
- Snapchat continues to build out its framework to allow for more public viewing and an open communications platform.
I can’t wait to see what happens from here.