China-Based TikTok Announces New Feature Test

China-Based TikTok is testing a disappearing stories product as part of an effort to encourage more users to share content on the service. Matt Navarra, a British social media consultant, shared the Images of the new product that appeared on Twitter Wednesday.

A China-Based TikTok spokeswoman confirmed that the company is running a pilot project for a stories product in a few markets. She said in a statement that they are always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience. Currently, they are experimenting with ways to give creators additional formats to bring their creative ideas to life for the TikTok community.

Stories, which are photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours, were first invented by Snap Inc. and further popularized by Instagram, which copied the product with its version in 2016. Twitter Inc.’s clone, called Fleets, had little success and shut down this month. ByteDance’s rival Kuaishou Technology said on Wednesday, it would stop the services of its short video app Zinn, operated in the United States, on Aug. 20.Kuaishou said in a statement that the company’s other products for markets outside China would not be affected. It said that the strategy for the international markets remains unchanged without providing a reason for Zinn’s shutdown.

Apart from Zinn, for markets outside China, Kuaishou operates Kwai, which is mainly popular in South America, and Snack Video. A reward system that offers users cash or gifts for signing up and referring friends helped Zinn to top U.S. app download charts last year.The Tencent-backed short video apps developer also operates the Kuaishou app and competes with ByteDance’s Douyin for the Chinese market.