Facebook revives Slingshot, changes its main purpose

Facebook revives Slingshot, changes its main purpose

Slingshot 2.0 allows users to document their days with quick "raw shots," as well as share funny online interactions with friends.

Remember when Facebook tried to beat Snapchat at its own game? Just this past June, Facebook launched an app called Slingshot that, like Snapchat, was primarily meant to sent ephemeral, self-deleting messages to friends. Not many users adopted the app though, and the general consensus was that there were not enough unique features to justify learning a new interface.

But Facebook has not given up on trying to make you care about Slingshot. On the contrary, the social media company just announced “Slingshot 2.0” via the Slingshot blog. Clearly, Facebook wants a piece of the Snapchat market.

The new version of Slingshot is no longer copying Snapchat’s core ephemeral messaging service, though. Instead, the app has been completely redesigned. Now, Facebook wants Snapchat to be the app that users go to when they want to “share life as it happens.” The app allows users to easily post images or “looping videos” to a feed. Friends can then reply or “react” to these posts with private images or videos of their own.

Essentially, Slingshot 2.0 allows users to document their days with quick “raw shots,” as well as share funny online interactions with friends. If this sounds familiar, that would be because it is: the basic purpose of the new Slingshot is a lot like Snapchat Stories. Stories allow Snapchat users to string together multiple “snaps” to create a narrative. The different images then expire after 24 hours – a feature that Slingshot 2.0 has also implemented.

While Facebook is still essentially copying Snapchat, though, it looks like the 2.0 version of the app will have a significantly better chance of catching on than the original. Friends love to share photos with other friends, after all, and Slingshot 2.0 supposedly has a swipable interface that will trump Snapchat’s and make it extremely easy to sort through your own photos or images in your feed. Finally, the 2.0 app includes social media sharing options, so that you can post your favorite images or videos to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Slingshot 2.0 is available for download now at the iOS and Google Play app stores.

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