It's here! For real this time.
Facebook released "Slingshot" Tuesday — it's the social networking site's version of Snapchat. The free app is available for iPhone and Android devices everywhere.
And, you guessed it, Facebook's version isn't a far cry from the wildly successful Snapchat — you're still sending pictures to friends that disappear after a certain amount of time. However, there are a few differences.
Slingshot is a bit louder, playing music as you draw, and alerting you a little more aggressively than Snapchat.
But, one of the biggest differences is how you view the Snapcha ... I mean Slingshots, or just shots. See, you can't open one from a friend until you send a pic back.
"The mechanic doesn't make much sense unless you think about Slingshot how Facebook does — not as a messaging app. ... but as an app for status updates ... In this way, each shot is like a status update, but is also a nudge to get friends to show you what they're up to." (Via The Verge)
All of this comes after Facebook "accidentally" released the app last week. The mis-published app was only available in a few countries and was wiped from the App Store shortly thereafter. (Via Mashable)
But only time will tell whether users like it better than Snapchat. If you're looking at Facebook's track record though, you'd be pessimistic about Slingshot.
There was the Facebook "Poke" app just a few years back which was, essentially, another Snapchat look-alike — allowing you to take a picture, send it to friends for a certain period of time, etc. It simply just didn't catch on. (Via YouTube / AppFind)
But Facebook later scrubbed the App Store of that too. (Via MacRumors)
Then, there was the oh-so-bold move by Snapchat to walk away from Facebook's $3-billion attempt to flat out buy them. Slingshot's success could tell us who won that battle. (Via The Wall Street Journal)
Now, we'll just have to sit here and see which picture app disappears first.
