Facebook recently made acquisition of a real-time face editing app Masquerade, which holds the ability to transform one’s looks and convert faces in cartoons lookalike. Few Media reports hint that this buyout will intensify Facebook’s rivalry with Snapchat that it failed to acquire in 2013. However, the Social Media giant did not disclose the amount it spent on this buyout. Interestingly, Masquerade operates on photo/video editing filters and features similar to Snapchat that allows face editing, transformation, overlay make-up and animals masks, etc. This deal will undoubtedly help Facebook strengthen its list of creative tools, stickers, picture texts and finger doodles.
Experts close to the matter believe that this buyout comes as no surprise as Facebook always wanted to respond to Snapchat, which is progressing to millions of video streams on a daily basis. Face-changing apps apparently started booming since the day Snapchat extended support to live filters last year. On the other hand, face-swapping has also attracted Social Media enthusiasts in huge numbers, especially since the rise of innovation in the AR (Augmented Reality) industry as well photo/face editing fun apps across major mobile ecosystems.
Facebook, in a statement, said that the Masquerade buyout will help it bring even more creative tools to Facebook, and help extend this work to video. In 2013, Facebook had offered $3 billion to acquire Snapchat that the instant messaging company denied accepting, the Wall Street Journal report revealed. Once fully implemented, the features could also be incorporated into facebook’s mainstream social networking site where users can use these tools to edit the photos before uploading them to share with the rest of the world. The same could also be said for video uploads as effects can be applied to them as well. Stay tuned for more details on this takeover. We shall update you as and when we get some more juice.
