• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, September 21, 2017

Following the lead of rival social networks and messaging services, Instagram is adding face filters to live video.

As with similar features, the new filters are designed “to make going live more fun and engaging,” a company spokesman said Thursday. Hidden behind a virtual mask, Instagram is also hoping more people will feel comfortable broadcasting live video of themselves.

Among other filters, the new feature will help users look a little more like a dog, a cat, a motorcyclist and a beauty queen.

Instagram only recently started testing a live-video feature for easy chatting among friends.

For both Facebook and Instagram, stealing Snap’s features are a proven strategy for success. Since adding Stories last summer, Instagram has seen the feature embraced by 250 million daily users. That’s up from 200 million since April alone, according to internal figures.

In another Snap-like development, Instagram’s Stories feature recently began letting users share replays of live video for up to 24 hours.

Of course, it wasn’t that long ago that “ephemerality” set Snapchat apart from Instagram and other rival networks.

Facebook increasingly relies on Instagram to drive revenue growth. In fact, the picture-based network will make up 20% of Facebook’s domestic mobile revenue this year -- up from 15% last year -- according to eMarketer.

Fortunately for Facebook, Instagram recently surpassed 700 million monthly active users, while the network is adding MAUs at a record rate.

As Facebook’s CFO David Wehner recently told analysts: “We’re seeing great growth there.”