Snap has announced the launch of Cameos in its popular social networking app, Snapchat. The feature allows users to star in short videos which can be sent to friends in Chat. The feature is similar to deepfakes which have recently gained attention, however, Cameos are more restrictive and people should be able to tell that the character in the scene isn"t actually you.
The Cameos feature can be found in Chat right beside the stickers button. In the next few weeks as the feature rolls out you’ll have a selection of 150 Cameos to choose from, with more coming soon. Once you’ve pressed the Cameos button, take a selfie and pick a scene you’d like to use. According to Snap, if your friend has set up the feature too, they’ll be able to co-star in two-person Cameos.
By launching Cameos, Snap will be hoping to hang on to customers instead of losing them to its biggest rival Instagram. Facebook has been using facial recognition technology for a while now so we could end up seeing it copy and pasting Cameos over to Instagram, much like it did with the Stories feature which is available on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
According to Snap’s statement, the feature will arrive in the coming week, however, December 18th has been reported as the actual launch date, with new Cameos scenes being added weekly.