San Francisco – Facebook Inc’s Instagram has souped up its camera with quirky face-tracking filters, adding another feature similar to that offered by social media rival Snap Inc’s Snapchat.
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Instagram users will now be able to choose from a range of filters including koala ears that move and twitch as well as math equations that spin to create humorous effects.
Other new features include a rewind mode for videos, which will allow users to play video in reverse, and hashtag stickers to visit hashtag pages.
Facebook has been amping up its camera tool to take on Snapchat’s features such as disappearing messages and face-tracking filters, which are hugely popular among its teenage and millennial users.
The world’s largest social media network has already added several Snapchat-like features such as Stories, which allows users to upload pictures and video slideshows that disappear after 24 hours.
Instagram said in April over 200 million people used Stories daily.
Snap, in its first earnings report as a listed company, said it had 166 million daily active users as of March 31.
Snap’s shares have been on a roller-coaster ride since their market debut on March 1. The stock plunged about 23 percent last week after the company posted disappointing quarterly results.
However, it recouped some of those losses after several institutional investors including George Soros and Daniel Loeb disclosed stakes in the company.
Snapchat’s shares fell 1.5 percent to $20.42 in early trading on Tuesday, while Facebook’s shares were little changed.