According to reports, Facebook is now rolling out Facebook Avatars – it’s an alternative to Snapchat’s Bitmoji – across Europe.
Last June, Facebook launched Avatars, a feature that lets users create and customize a virtual version of themselves to use in various places like stickers, chats, or comments. According to a recent TechCrunch report, the company is now starting to roll out the feature across Europe as well.
Facebook Avatars – a fun tool for light-hearted self-expression – is already available to users in Australia and New Zealand. Users are able to create an avatar from within the sticker tray of a post’s comment section, or within Messenger.
Creating a Facebook Avatar is a simple process. If you’re one of the first users to have the feature (that means you’ll have to be living in Australia), a new smiley face icon will appear within your comment windows in News Feed or your sticker drawer on Messenger. Tap on it and a creation flow wizard will open up, allowing you to build your own Facebook Avatar.
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With Avatars, Facebook is trying to make its product more youthful and fun, something it hasn’t been able to replicate successfully just yet. Snapchat’s Bitmoji are a big success, 70% of Snapchat users have created their own.
Snapchat has invested in the feature further, with things like Bitmoji TV, a dynamically-created cartoon series featuring users’ Bitmoji avatars, or even games that users play as their Bitmoji.
On the other hand, Facebook is clearly still testing the waters with Avatars and isn’t keen on sharing “specific stats for adoption.”