A report emerged over the weekend that Facebook is working on a quick-fire messaging app to rival Snapchat.
It was claimed late last year that Facebook had tried and failed to acquire the disposable messaging application for a staggering $3 billion. Now, the social network giant appears to be taking a more aggressive approach to getting a piece of Snapchat’s success.
According to the Financial Times, Mark Zuckerberg has been overseeing efforts to build a rival instant messaging app for several months now. The idea will be that users can quickly share short videos that will then expire after a single view.
It’s claimed that the new Snapchat rival is being referred to internally as "Slingshot." It could launch by the end of the month, though there’s still a chance that Facebook will opt not to proceed with a release.
The report claims that Slingshot would probably stand separately from Facebook Messenger, as Zuckerberg continues his plan to separate Facebook into individual components for mobile.
As well as Facebook’s own internal messaging service, Slingshot would stand alongside WhatsApp in the company’s roster. Facebook announced that it would be acquiring the massive instant messaging service in February.
Slingshot would be the latest attempt from Facebook to mimic Snapchat’s winning formula, having failed already with Poke. Launched in December 2012, Poke failed to gain traction, and was finally put out of its misery earlier this month.
Snapchat has proved to be massively popular among the teenage demographic, which is precisely where engagement with Facebook is said to be tailing off.
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