Last December, Facebook added a new feature called Group stories. Adding stories to profiles has become the norm of the day starting with Snapchat and Instagram. WhatsApp followed suit in its footsteps, soon the stories feature which disappears after 24 hours become a part of WhatsApp too.
Facebook too had started the same feature on its app. Only last December, the social media network added the group stories. Using this feature, admins and members post their stories which disappear after 24 hours. Facebook announced on Friday that it will discontinue the group feature from its websites altogether. The decision will be effective starting from September 26 at 9 a.m. PT. After this timeline, the existing stories will be deleted automatically, and users will be barred from posting new ones on the social media platform.
However, Facebook did not release a concrete statement regarding their decision to discontinue the group stories feature. One Facebook spokesperson described in vague terms the reason why they felt like doing away with the feature.
“We’re sunsetting group stories because we want to make sure that features in groups enable people to connect in fun and useful ways, and we’re always looking at ways to improve the overall experience for communities on Facebook.” – The official statement on Facebook’s part read
This does not, in any way, hamper the users’ ability to post a photo on their feed or timeline or share posts and photos.
According to a survey, more than 1.4 billion people on Facebook use groups every month to stay better connected to their old friends or loved ones. They also chat about their interests or share stories in the groups. The company has not revealed the number of people who actually use the feature.
Facebook has not issued any statement about adding any new features to its platform soon.