Facebook “making its own camera app”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Facebook is making its own camera app in an attempt to encourage its users to share more photos and videos via the service, Digital Spy reports.

It hasn't been officially confirmed yet. But according to The Wall Street Journal, it works just like Snapchat - in other words, open the app, and the camera on your phone starts up.

It may also add the ability to stream live video, which would make sense, seeing as Facebook recently extended its Facebook Live Video service - which lets you stream live video - beyond a handful of celebrities to the rest of its users.

However, the app is in the early stages and might never launch.

It's not the first time Facebook has tried to ape Snapchat. After it failed to buy the firm back in 2013 for $3 billion, it launched its own version called Slingshot, which bombed, Digital Spy said.

Before that, it tried a similar proposition called Facebook Poke, but again, it flopped. It was the same story with an app called Facebook Camera.

Increasingly, Facebook users are passive on the social network, whereas Snapchat's are much more likely to be active.

Facebook is keen to encourage its users to become more active to make them more engaged with the service - and hence less likely to leave - rather than just browsing it a couple of times a day.

According to a recent report, "original broadcast sharing" on Facebook was down 21% as of mid-2015 compared to a year before.