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Apr 12, 2001
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Facebook is building a new app that will serve as a direct competitor to Snapchat, according to a report from the Financial Times. The project, which is codenamed "Slingshot", will enable users to send each other pictures or short video messages through a simplified, grid-based interface similar to the one seen in messaging app TapTalk. Like Snapchat, photos and videos can only be taken in real time, and messages disappear after a specified time limit.

taptalk_facebook.jpeg
Facebook's new ephemeral messaging app is said to resemble TapTalk (pictured above)​
Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg is said to be personally overseeing the project, with Slingshot's development coming after Facebook attempted to buy Snapchat for $3 billion last year. The news also follows Facebook's removal of its long defunct Facebook Poke app from the App Store earlier this month, which was the company's first answer to Snapchat. Originally launched in December of 2012, Poke allowed users to send ephemeral photos, videos, text messages, and "poke" notifications to their friends.

According to the report, Slingshot could be released as early as this month on mobile platforms. Facebook previously launched its news content and curation app Paper this past February. The app was the first product to come out of Facebook's Creative Labs initiative.

Article Link: Facebook Developing New Snapchat Competitor, May Launch This Month
 

clayj

macrumors 604
Jan 14, 2005
7,612
947
visiting from downstream
Maybe Facebook should consider restoring the Most Recent view to the News Feed -- rather than forcing us to use some convoluted workaround in the More screen -- in the actual Facebook app FIRST.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
Didn't they do this already with Poke (they that just recently pulled)?
 

Glassed Silver

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2007
2,096
2,567
Kassel, Germany
The way I understood it is that there's a strong emphasis on having your content be temporary on Snapchat.
Whether or not it's bulletproof, it's most prominently popular for "enabling" to forget your worries about some content you may send.

Linking these use cases to a data mining company like Facebook seems like what most users would like to explicitly avoid.

Glassed Silver:mac
 

djtech42

macrumors 65816
Jun 23, 2012
1,447
56
Mason, OH
So Facebook, the biggest data mining company (besides Google, possibly), is creating an app that supposedly allows you to send content "temporarily."

HAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry, I couldn't keep a straight face. :D :rolleyes:
 

viizi

macrumors regular
Dec 2, 2010
224
68
crazy as soon as there is an article about a leader, 99% of comments become arrogant. You should really look at leading a more positive lifestyle. Might just turn into one of those god forsaken PC keyboard warriors.

----------

True that..... and I look forward to the day when fb reaches "MySpace" status :)

not before something new and nice comes along pleaseeee. I would hate to have to give in to Google+. I really don't like the way it works.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458

Carlanga

macrumors 604
Nov 5, 2009
7,132
1,409
Meh failure is imminent fb. Go back to your "timeline" and hide this story w paper and the rest. Just stay where you are and you just might survive.
 

Arndroid

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2013
903
461
They should have built a whatsapp clone and paid people a dollar a month to use it. They could pay all users for over 3 years before they matched the price tag.
 

springsup

macrumors 65816
Feb 14, 2013
1,216
1,199
Facebook are such a bizarre company. Either they're total geniuses with some grand master plan or they don't have the first clue what they're doing.

Poke, then Home, then WhatsApp, then Oculus, and now another Poke?

Oh, and while I'm at it - all those notifications everybody keeps getting: "Do you know x?", in a desperate attempt to claw back the flocks of people leaving the site. They annoy the hell out of me and actually make me actively avoid Facebook.

Sometimes I wonder what somebody I knew is doing now and consider Facebook-ing them; then I remember all that notification spam I get and decide to forget it.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,545
6,042
...

Worst business decision ever?

They already tried making a clone of this piece of crapp once and failed; why waste time on it again?

They'd probably get more bang for their buck making a Flappy Bird clone, if they have an itch to clone crapp.
 

dannys1

macrumors 68040
Sep 19, 2007
3,639
6,712
UK
Why don't they just add the option to send a photo for a time limited time to Facebook chat? Then, game over, surely? I mean ffs why do you need a separate app for this, all it is is sending a photo that deletes itself, what is the fuss??
 
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0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
I have no idea what Snapchat is and I'm trying to see how long I can go before I find out. I realise this post might end that run.
 
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