Facebook may be failing, but Instagram and Tinder, two of the companies owned by Facebook, are booming. And with the news of Facebook’s fall, the company is looking to add new features to the messenger app in order to create for a more interactive experience. All signs point to augmented reality as the next step for all social media platforms, and here’s why.
Let’s start with the big blue giant himself, Facebook. Their new messenger features will incorporate AR so that up to 6 people will be able to play interactive games while chatting. The two games currently launched are called “Don’t Smile” which is sinisterly self-explanatory, and “Asteroid Attack.” With three more games in development as well, all you have to do is start a group video, press the star icon, and you’ll get your game on. But is this enough to encourage users to continue using Facebook?
Now, turn to Instagram and Tinder. Instagram has seen the most increase in active users out of all the popular social media platforms for last year. There were a total of 300 million monthly active users added on the photo-sharing app, which beat out Facebook. They only added 228 million active users in the past year. Snapchat, on the other hand, is fumbling with only 15 million monthly active users added. But they too, believe in the power of AR, and will begin incorporating it into advertising more heavily as they believe that is “the future.”
Lastly, Tinder is booming, too. Analysts are saying the dating app could make up to $800 million in revenue this year, double their revenue of previous years. Looks like people are dropping the ability to snap in favor of the ability to swipe.
