Facebook creative
Lab has designed and launched a new ephemeral messaging App called Slingshot on
17th June 2014 in USA.Its a Photo and video sharing app, just like Snapchat
and its going to give a tough competition for Cnapchat. Facebook. after acquiring
Instagram and WhatsApp, it also tried buying SnapChat after it became popular
among users for its self destructing sexting, but snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel refused a $3Billion offer
according to the media reports.
Also Read Snapchat takes chatting to a whole new level with destructible instant messaging and video calls
Users of this new App, Slingshot, can send pictures and videos up to 15 second long and once the recipient views
the message, it gets cleared up from inbox on its own. It works just like Snapchat
with a little twist. The twist is that if recipient wants to see the picture or
video sent, he/she needs to first send reply (Image/Video) back to the sender to
unlock the message. This mechanism put into place by Facebook looks pretty complicated and it may turn off the users to an extent.
But for the users who think privacy is a paramount priority, it’s the best way to be a safe online user.
Popularity of the App is depends on whether the recipient will perceive the
reply to unlock the message or not.
User can sign in
to Slingshot like WhatsApp, i.e using their mobile number and connect with friends using phone book contacts or
through Facebook contacts. I don’t have information about privacy of the user as
I didn’t get the chance to venture out with App; it’s not yet available in India.
As per the news, our assumption is App is available in USA for Android and iPhones. We haven’t received any information regarding global release but once the App's popularity picks up, Facebook will release it world over.
Last week
Facebook launched the very same App on App stores through some accident or mistake on engineers part but it was short lived joy for the users. Because before anyone can venture out with it, App was gone. Facebook didn’t
give any explanation for the premature accidental launch.
US users interested in Slingshot can download it for their iOS driven iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch from from Apple Store whereas Android users based in United States can download Slingshot from Google Play.
0 comments