This could be interesting - today Meta has announced a new series of partnerships with several popular mobile apps that will enable users of each to share recap and celebratory-style creations from these third-party platforms direct to Facebook and Instagram Stories, providing another way to create unique, engaging Stories content for the holidays.

As explained by Meta:

“The end of the year marks an important time for reflection - How did I spend my time this year? What have I learned? What did I create? For many of us, the mobile apps we use are an amazing mechanism to reflect on these questions, and with Sharing to Stories, our partners are helping the people who use their apps bring important milestones to life. We’re proud to showcase how six uniquely fun and interesting partners are celebrating the end of 2021, and looking ahead to 2022.”

The partner apps for the project are:

• Photo apps B612 and Snow, which will enable users to upload New Year’s party photos from their apps
• Music streaming app Anghami, through which users will be able to upload Spotify-like re-caps of their year in music, direct to Stories

• Short-form video platform Kwai, which has added a new ‘Year in Review’ feature
• Social karaoke tool WeSing, which is providing a showcase of the songs people have listened to and performed throughout the year
• And finally, popular video app Likee, which has also added a year end recap feature

Which all feels very TikTok-like, right? Music-focused, short-form video clips.

Several of these apps also have millions of users in their own right – in fact, last year, Likee was the fourth-most downloaded video app in the world, and was set to make a bigger push into the US market, before COVID complications de-railed its strategy.

Anghami is very popular in the Middle East, while Korean-based Snow also has a huge audience in Asian markets.

Which is why this is such a smart collaboration – and while the capacity to add ‘Share to Stories’ functionality to partner apps isn’t anything new, these end of year pushes could help Meta boost interest in its own Stories tools and functions, with fun, TikTok-style tools in its apps, while also boosting awareness for each individual app among its massive audience, making it a promotional win-win for both sides.

It may not be a major element in Meta’s ongoing push to win back younger audiences, but it could be another way to potentially blunt the influence of TikTok, in a range of specific markets. Now, users will see these video recaps from friends and family, across both Facebook and Instagram, which could help to keep them within Meta’s walls, instead of migrating to TikTok instead.

It’s a small step, in the broader scheme, but it’s another element in the ongoing battle for attention between the major players in the space.