Facebook is known to carry out many experiments. The company is constantly bringing changes to its platform. They also own Instagram and WhatsApp and have ensured that a quality experience is delivered on those platforms too. According to a Report by Gadgets 360, the social media giant is now testing a video app. Facebook confirmed that the app will be called Bonfire and will carry many features similar to Snapchat. Bonfire will pose a direct challenge to the Denmark-based Houseparty app. Alleged screenshots of the app have emerged online. These indicate that it represents a youthful theme.
What do reports suggest?
News regarding Facebook Bonfire first emerged back in July but at that time the matter did was not confirmed by the company. It was suggested that the app was going through development processes. The Next Web was the first publication to have spotted screenshots of the Denmark-based Bonfire. The app carried the tagline, “Your friends, your fire,” in the screenshots. The Next Web claims that Bonfire will enable users to video chat with a group of friends at the same time. The experience will be similar to Facebook’s Live Video feature.
A Facebook representative states that feature from Bonfire will be intertwined with the Facebook Messenger app. The video app will be provided in the form of an extended version of Facebook itself.
This will work very similarly to the way Instagram does. The company specifically wants to target the Houseparty app. According to a report by Recode, the company took a survey of Houseparty users in March this year. They wanted to know more about their experience with the application.
Facebook is giving a hard time to its rivals
Facebook is extremely competitive. According to a report published in July by The Wall Street Journal, the company keeps a tab on which app in the market is gaining increasing popularity. This is done so that Facebook can integrate features similar to those apps, on their own platform.
There are many times when these features are received well but there are also instances where Facebook has experienced a drop in user engagement.
The Denmark-based Houseparty app already consists of 20 million users. They claim that those users have already made over 500 million group video calls. This is a massive number and it’s obvious that Facebook can’t wait to get a bite of it. The social media giant confirmed with Facebook that they are interested in how everyone uses technology (Houseparty). They apparently want to build “great experiences” for their consumers. They are running a small test in Denmark of an app called Bonfire, the Facebook representative confirmed.
