I’ll qualify my criticism with this: Nearly every time Facebook has had a major feature release, they’ve been slayed in public, and we’ve all eventually accepted and appreciated the new toy.

This time, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Snapchat should be beet red.

Log into your Facebook app and you’ll be greeted not with the latest news & info from your network, but your own smiling face.

Snapchat changed the game for social apps by loading the users’ front facing camera by default. The theory is that has prompted the insane sharing numbers that we’re seeing on Snapchat right now, so in order to get the same crazy numbers, Facebook just said: Us too!

Facebook

What does that mean for us? Original or not, it will almost definitely work (at least for a while) at getting more people to post quick, personal videos on Facebook.

Your fans’ newsfeeds are going to be filled with much more video, much less professionally produced. That creates a huge opportunity for us as brands to be creating stuff that people want to see – whether user generated, sponsored or original – and match the best of what people are seeing when they log in.

Want to take it a step further? Since everyone has their front facing cameras open already, why not get them to engage with you through video? Post video reviews? Whether you (or I) love how it’s being introduced, the results may be pretty awesome.