By Nikita Geldenhuys

Stories for WhatsApp?

Stories – the function that lets Snapchat and Instagram users add their posts into a slideshow – may become a feature on WhatsApp.

Mashable reports the instant messaging app is testing the option in the latest public beta build of its Android and iOS clients. The feature can reportedly only be accessed by beta testers with jailbroken iPhone or rooted Android phones.

WhatsApp's Status feature, its version of Stories, is set to let people share multiple updates in a day, according to Mashable’s Manish Singh. Similar to Snapchat and Instagram’s options, statuses will exist for 24 hours before disappearing.

Singh doesn’t think the development will be trickling down to WhatsApp’s stable version anytime soon though. “Even the beta testers of its apps are currently required to download a third-party app to enable the new Status feature on their phone.”

Read Mashable’s story here.

Instagram inspires Snapchat’s new reverse tap for Stories

The 8 November update to the Snapchat app included a handful of nifty new features. Among them is the ability to reverse or rewind a Snapchat story. Version 9.43.0.0 of the app allows users to tap the left side of the screen to go back.

Instagram launched its version of Stories in August 2016, featuring a copy of Snapchat’s feature – with a few upgrades. Snapchat has now matched the option, while adding other functionalities to the app, like fun Lenses.  

Users can now apply World Lenses to Snaps taken with the outward-facing camera. Lenses let effects like snowflakes fall over the image the user sees on their phone or make pink hearts float upwards over the scene.

In case you missed it, Snapchat launched video-taking Spectacles earlier this year. More here.

Facebook challenges LinkedIn with job opening features

TechCrunch spotted a new Job Tabs on its Facebook Page on Monday, 7 November. A Facebook spokesperson reportedly told TechCrunch’s Josh Constine; “Based on behaviour we’ve seen on Facebook, where many small businesses post about their job openings on their Page, we’re running a test for Page admins to create job postings and receive applications from candidates.”

Connecting job openings with social media is something LinkedIn has been doing for a while. Is Facebook encroaching on LinkedIn’s recruitment territory? Constine believes the new tab could indeed be successful, especially considering the large amount of people using Facebook, how often they use the platform, and the amount of data available to recruiters to target adverts of new jobs to the right users.

LinkedIn has other things going for it though. Read our article on Why LinkedIn is not dead yet.

Periscope lets users broadcast themselves as Clinton or Trump

Snapchat’s Lenses, which uses facial recognition to add real-time effects to selfies, is one of the apps biggest attractions. Periscope recently tapped into the popularity of selfie lenses in the time leading up to the US elections.

Periscope wrote on its Medium blog; “As a platform that allows anyone to broadcast their perspective … we wanted to give you something fun in the time leading up to Election Day in the US. For the next week, you can broadcast with a Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump mask when you go live in selfie mode. These are available on iOS only.”

The platform said its working on similar tools for live video, with more advanced features launching soon. Will these tools be inspired by the functionalities of the rest of the social media world? Time will tell.

*Image courtesy of Shannon Kringen under this license