Facebook aims to mimic Snapchat’s success with Slingshot

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On Tuesday, Facebook rolled out its Snapchat-like app, Slingshot.

Slingshot works much like Snapchat, but with one key difference : In order to view a sender’s message, you must first send a pic of your own in reply. The intent of this feature seems to be to force users to engage, effectively shutting out “lurkers.” But will this be enough to give Slingshot an edge?

To use Slingshot, you take a selfie or short video; you can add texts, emoticons, or even a drawing. Then, “sling” it to a friend or friends. When you receive a reply, you can swipe the image and it self destructs.

The biggest flaw of Slingshot? It’s impossible to tell if someone has captured a screenshot of your message, which may be a major concern for early adopters.

My take:

I can’t think of a reason why users would abandon Snapchat for what appears to be an inferior copycat. Consider Facebook’s past failures as well. Think about Facebook Paper and Facebook Home – both not winners by any book.

The one thing Facebook has working in its favor is its perpetual trump card: a massive user base. Facebook users who are not familiar with Snapchat can experience this type of app for the first time with Slingshot. However, this may ultimately be viewed as yet another frivolous Facebook add-on.

Get the full scoop here from the folks over at TechCrunch .

What do you think about Slingshot? Do you think it could steal users from Snapchat?

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.