Facebook adds reactions, group chat to its 'Stories'
San Francisco, June 28 : Aiming to get more people to interact with its "Stories" in the main app, Facebook has added group chat and reactions among others to the service.
Facebook "Stories" are short user-generated photo and video collections that can be viewed up to two times and disappear after 24 hours.
"The social network announced a few new features for the service, which lets people post a string of photos and videos that automatically disappear after 24 hours," CNET reported on Thursday.
Now, if users reply to a "Story", they would be able to add other people to the reply which creates a new group thread in Facebook Messenger -- the social network's chat application.
Users would also be able to see if they got any Messenger replies to their "Story" without leaving the "Story" itself.
"Facebook is also adding the ability for people to reply with stickers and 'reactions' -- the 'like', 'love' and 'sad' buttons you usually see on the social network," the report added.
The social network giant "copied" the "Stories" feature from rival Snapchat and added it to all its apps, including popular photo-sharing platform Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook itself.
Stories on Instagram and WhatsApp are wildly popular, with 300 million and 450 million daily users, respectively that eclipse's Snapchat's 191 million users for the entire app, according to CNET.
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DJ Black Coffee's event in Goa cancelled after NOC revoked on Good Friday
Panaji (PTI): The Goa leg of Grammy-winning South African DJ Black Coffee's India tour was cancelled at the last minute on Friday evening after authorities revoked the event's No Objection Certificate (NOC), a move intended to honour the solemnity of Good Friday.
Officials on Saturday cited the need to respect local sentiments and the religious significance of the day as the primary reason for withdrawing the permission previously granted to host the "Sunset-to-Night" event.
The opposition Congress demanded a probe by the Economic Offences Cell of the state against the organisers.
The revocation of permission by the Communidade of Anjuna, in whose land the event was scheduled to be hosted, followed an objection by locals and the Congress, citing the solemn occasion of Good Friday and the upcoming Easter Sunday.
Local police officials confirmed that the organisers of "Sunset to Night" have cancelled the event, leaving many revellers disappointed.
Sebastian D'Souza, an attorney of Communidade of Anjuna, in a letter addressed to organisers, stated that the NOC granted to them on March 4, 2026, to host the musical event on April 3 in survey number 206/1 of Anjuna village has been unanimously revoked by the managing committee.
D'Souza stated that the date coincides with Holy Week, particularly Good Friday.
"This has been decided in the interest of residents of Anjuna, Vagator and Chapora," the letter reads.
The Comunidade of Anjuna is a traditional, collective land-holding institution in North Goa, part of the twelve comunidades of Bardez.
A huge crowd assembled outside the venue of the programme on Friday night as the word spread about the cancellation.
Several netizens posted reels on social media claiming they were informed about the cancellation at the last minute.
Earlier, the Congress had objected to hosting such an event on the sacred occasion of Good Friday, calling it "deeply insensitive and unacceptable."
"Your event, @Paradoxindia_, in Goa on the sacred occasion of Good Friday is deeply insensitive and unacceptable. @RealBlackCoffee , this is not just about music- it is about respecting faith. By going ahead with a techno show on a day of mourning for Christians, you have hurt religious sentiments not just in Goa, but across the world," Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Patkar had written on X.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Patkar said that the state Congress would file a complaint with the Economic Offences Cell (EOC) against the organisers for allegedly selling tickets online without obtaining necessary permissions from authorities such as the Goa Pollution Control Board and the Fire and Emergency Services.
The event organisers could not be contacted immediately for their comment on the Congress leader's claim.
While at least 3,000 people had arrived in Goa to attend the event, the access road to the venue was not wide enough for Fire and Emergency Services vehicles to reach, Patkar claimed.
