Facebook reportedly building a Snapchat-killer called Slingshot
KVOrK DEJANSEZIAN/Getty Images
Facebook is apparently trying to strike Snapchat gold — again. The Financial Times is reporting the company is trying to recreate the ephemeral picture messaging app's success with a separate app called Slingshot. While more details about the app are scarce, it will reportedly mimic Snapchat in allowing users to send messages that disappear a certain amount of time after they're opened. The app could be released as early as this month, the report said.
This is the third time the social networking company has tried to imitate Snapchat. In 2012, its knock-off called Poke was met with ambivalence by the public and was removed from Apple's App Store. And earlier this year, founder Mark Zuckerberg failed to lure Snapchat with a $3 billion offer.
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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