Not long ago Facebook tried to purchase the picture and video messaging app Snapchat for $3 Billion but Snapchat refused Facebook to do so. Facebook has taken this matter seriously and we now according to a report Facebook is building its own Snapchat competitor app which is codenamed as “Slingshot”. Mark Zuckerberg himself is supervising an internal effort to make this competitor app.
In 2012 Facebook tried the very similar video sharing app the Poke which was failed to gain enough attention and Mark Zuckerberg called that app a joke. But it was widely reported that app was developed in just 12 hours. Slingshot is in works for months and Mark Zuckerberg himself is supervising it. Facebook’s interest in building this app is obvious as Snapchat has become very popular in today’s generation and Facebook wanted to take all those users to itself. But Snapchat refused to sale itself to Facebook is now building its own competitor app.
Facebook was late to embrace mobile platform so it is now releasing a number of easy to use mobile apps like Facebook paper and now Slingshot. Slingshot will of course find a solid competition from the leader Snapchat in the start but we hope this time it will gain popularity unlike the Poke.
Here’s more from the Financial Times:
Facebook has been working for several months on the app, known internally as Slingshot, with a simple and speedy user interface, according to people familiar with its plans. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief, has been overseeing the top-secret project after failing to woo Snapchat’s creators Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy with a $3bn takeover offer late last year. The app allows users to send short video messages with just a couple of taps of the screen. Slingshot could be launched this month, one person said, while cautioning that Facebook might still decide not to proceed with the product.