As positive because the solar rises within the east and units within the west, so too is all of it however assured in 2021 that social media platforms will ultimately check some ill-fated model of Instagram Stories of their feeds. And as of Wednesday, TikTok is now not the exception: The platform is reportedly experimenting with a brand new tales characteristic.

The rumor was first reported by Geekout founder Matt Navarro, and a TikTok spokesperson has since confirmed its veracity to The Verge. The new addition shall be similar to the options you’ve little doubt identified, beloved, or barely used on Facebook (“Stories”), Pinterest (“Story Pins”), LinkedIn (“Stories,” but once more) and Twitter (the not too long ago canned “Fleets”), in that it’ll enable customers to publish content material that’s dwell for simply 24 hours earlier than it’s robotically deleted. Instagram itself stole Stories straight from Snapchat, however that’s historic historical past.

According to display screen grabs posted by Navarro, TikTok’s newest characteristic can even be referred to as Stories, after all, and can dwell in a newly added slide-over sidebar from which you’ll be capable to entry a carousel of content material from the accounts you comply with earlier than it vanishes endlessly. In an announcement given to Variety, a spokesperson for the app, owned by Chinese web big ByteDance, confirmed {that a} small pilot check of the characteristic is already underway in plenty of international locations exterior the U.S.

“We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” the spokesperson mentioned. “Currently we’re experimenting with ways to give creators additional formats to bring their creative ideas to life for the TikTok community.”

The information comes simply at some point after YouTube launched its personal copycat short-term content material format, Shorts, which it’s planning to incentivize creators to take part in by providing eligible customers as much as $10,000 per thirty days out of a $100 million creator fund.

As , social media platforms can now not exist as distinct entities—they should cannibalize one another’s each transfer, perform, characteristic, and replace till they’ve consolidated into one mega-platform that’s only a short-form video model of a primal scream. We want TikTok, the newest entrant into this gauntlet, the very best of luck.