Facebook released a new app called Slingshot on Tuesday. Slingshot is made for sharing photos that disappear when viewed, similar to Snapchat. However, Slingshot requires that the recipient reply with another photo before the first can be viewed.
Facebook attempted to purchase Snapchat in November 2013, but when Snapchat declined the offer Facebook began looking into options for a similar app. A previous attempt called Poke was a commercial failure, and was shut down in May. With Slingshot, Facebook has created not another Snapchat clone, but a unique app that lets users share in a different way.
Slingshot opens with the camera pulled up, encouraging users to snap a photo or capture video up to 15 seconds. The user can then add text or draw on the photo before sending it to any number of contacts. When a contact received the photo, it is locked, showing only a small and obfuscated preview. To view the photo, the contact must first send a photo back. One sent picture can unlock a photo from each recipient, encouraging users to share photos with their entire contact list rather than sending to only one person.
In some ways this goal is the opposite of Snapchat, which lacks a select all button in its app to encourage photos to be sent to just one or two people. The idea is to make each photo received to feel more special. With Slingshot, however, photos and videos will be traded back and forth often. Instead of sending messages through pictures, Facebook envisions Slingshot as something more like Twitter, where users post updates on their daily lives. Unlocking the photo only when the recipient sends a reply requires users to be active participants and not passive consumers.
Although being forced to send a photo before you view one may seem like a hassle for many users, Facebook believes Slingshot will create a different kind of environment.
"When everyone participates, there's less pressure, more creativity and even the little things in life can turn into awesome shared experiences," say the app's developers in a statement. "This is what Slingshot is all about. "
Joey Flynn, the app's creator, says the idea was inspired by his own experiences. When he sent photos to his brothers, he would rarely receive a reply, simply a notification from the program that the image had been viewed. Slingshot was created as a way to encourage participation and interaction.
"This creates a totally new type of sharing that has two parts - part self expression and part letting your friends know you want to hear from them too," Flynn says in a Facebook post.
Slingshot is available now for free on iOS and Android. While currently available only to US users, the app may be released in other countries soon.
