Facebook’s Instagram Adds Messaging to Fend Off Startups
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Facebook Inc.’s Instagram mobile photo-sharing application will let users send photos and videos directly to their friends, as it steps up competition against upstart messaging services such as Snapchat Inc.
The new feature, called Instagram Direct, will pop up in an icon on a user’s home feed. The tool will let people send photos and videos directly to as many as 15 friends, who can then discuss them using familiar features such as comments and the like button, the company said at an event in New York. The new services will be available to users today.