The test includes both the option to upload content to a Story from a desktop, as well as moving the location of Stories on the desktop to above the News Feed, the same space it currently occupies on mobile devices. Only a small number of users will see the option as Facebook conducts a test of the features — and not all Facebook tests end up becoming global features.
In August, the company began testing the same Facebook Stories mobile circles on the top of the right-hand column in the News Feed on a desktop browser, which has since rolled out to additional users. Friends (and now public figures) that have added to their story will pop up in those circles, for followers to view their daily adventures.
Stories are becoming common across multiple social media networks, though still remain largely a mobile feature. The idea, started by Snapchat, is to share photos and short videos of your day, which are then automatically deleted for starting a new visual log the next day. Facebook Stories are directly related to Facebook Camera, another Snapchat-inspired option that allows mobile users to take pictures with augmented reality-selfie effects.
Facebook Stories launched at the start of 2017 after the company successfully debuted Instagram Stories last year. The feature on Instagram quickly overtook Snapchat’s user count in just a few months and now, a year later, numbers around 250 million daily users. On Instagram’s one-year anniversary of the feature, the Facebook-owned platform said that half of all the businesses on Instagram use Stories.
While Facebook has not offered numbers for its version of Stories, the sharing style has not appeared to gain as many users. Speculation for why the similar feature hasn’t caught on as quickly ranges from Facebook’s different demographics compared to Snapchat’s younger user base to the idea that there is no need for another way to share outside the News Feed. That has not stopped Facebook from refining the option, allowing users that allow public followers to access the feature and now, testing the option for desktop users.
Update: Added that Facebook is testing the ability to add to Stories via desktop.
