SNAPCHAT FOR FACEBOOK: Facebook this week launched Lifestage, a video and social network app that’s been compared to Snapchat. However, the app is aimed at users under 21 (although it cannot verify a user’s age), and videos don’t disappear after 24 hours. Lifestage doesn’t offer messaging, but users can add videos to their profiles, use frames and tag videos in the Likes, Dislikes, Music and Books categories.
Classmates can view each other’s profiles once 20 people from their school has signed up, and anyone 22 or older can only view their own profiles. On top of that, there are no privacy settings now so all posts are public.
Lifestage, designed by a 19-year-old product manager, is Facebook’s most recent effort to woo teen users. Instagram, which it also owns, recently introduced a Stories feature that allows for video sharing similar to on Snapchat. The company’s recent video strategy could be part of the effort to ramp up content for video ads, where more of the advertising dollars now live.
