Larry Magid: Facebook Tries To Slingshot Snapchat Again
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Facebook is gearing up to take on Snapchat once again by launching its own disappearing messaging app, Slingshot.
You probably remember Facebook creating an app called Poke, which was pretty close to being a Snapchat clone. Slingshot is the same in the sense that it's a clone, but it does a bit more.
One notable feature with Slingshot is that if I were to send you an image, you couldn't look at my image until you sent one back to me. This makes it so that everyone is a participant and there aren't just spectators.
The pictures, like in Snapchat, don't really disappear. There are ways to unlock them and save them for 30 days and of course you can always take a screen shot. Although in fairness, they're not claiming absolute security.
In the Slingshot blog, they pay homage to Snapchat. The people who started Slingshot said they've enjoyed using Snapchat. I think it's nice to acknowledge that there's competition, but at the same time, there's room for competition.