Facebook Adding a Snapchat-Like ‘Streaks’ Feature to Messenger

Social media giant Facebook is reportedly looking to clone Snapchat‘s “Streak” feature, one that promotes a constant flow of conversation between two users.

According to a new report from Mashable, Facebook Messenger’s version of “Streaks” shows an emoji of a lightning bolt in front of the names of the people that you have messaged for at least two days in a row.

The streak feature is a form of what the tech industry likes to call “gamification” — turning otherwise tedious tasks into games to give users a thrill every time they get a certain score or cross a certain threshold.

A spokesperson for Facebook Messenger who spoke to Mashable confirmed its testing of the feature, saying it was a way “to see at a glance fun facts about the people you message with.”

“For example, a lightning bolt may appear next to the name of a person you’ve messaged with for at least three days in a row, and a counter will indicate how many consecutive days you’ve been chatting,” said the spokesperson. “We’re interested to see if people enjoy this insight, but we don’t have any additional information to share at this time.”

Although the Facebook’s comment does not reveal an expansion of streaks, the feature could arrive on other Facebook-owned properties including Instagram and WhatsApp following its success on Messenger.