Facebook said to be developing another camera app

Facebook's last camera app closed after two years, but this one could succeed thanks to live video

For all of its efforts to create a family of mobile apps, Facebook really hasn't cracked the code yet. Sure there's Messenger, but a good number of its other apps have failed. I mean, when was the last time you used Moves or Paper?

Among those was one of its first standalone apps, Camera, which only lasted two years. Now the company is said to be trying the idea again, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal on Monday, but this time it's got a potential ace up its sleeve: live video.

The new app, which is being developed in London by its "friend-sharing" team, would open, much like Snapchat does, directly to a camera, so users can immediately start taking photos and video. One feature that the company is said to be developing will focus around live streaming.

Of course, the project is in its early stages and may never actually be released, but this does show how deep Facebook's commitment to live video streaming goes.

Earlier this month Facebook introduced a slew of new features to enhance its live video capabilities, turning itself into what can only be described as a live video hub.

That included users being able to broadcast live videos to Facebook Groups and Events, as well as Live Reactions, which let users show how they feel about a broadcast in real-time, using the same Reactions that the company launched in February.

The company also introduced Live Filters, which will let users draw or doodle on your video while live. These are coming soon; The ability to send an invitation to a friend to watch live video with you; and Facebook Live Map on desktop, so users can see what live videos are trending all around the world.

Facebook's standalone apps

If there's one thing that Facebook should worry about, it should be its success rate with standalone apps. Besides Messenger, few of them have caught on.

The company had launched Creative Labs, an apps development unit, in 2014, but was forced to shut it down late last year, along with three of its apps: Slingshot, the Snapchat competitor that Facebook released in June of 2014;  Rooms, an anonymity app that debuted in October of 2014; and Riff, a  tool for friends to share idea and collaborate on video, which only lasted around eight months. 

This is not the first time the company has even released its own camera app. The first one debuted in 2012 and was shut down two years later, along with its first Snapchat competitor, Poke.

So what wil be different this time? The live video component, which has been extremely successful for Twitter-owned Periscope, which has grown to over 200 million broadcasts.

With Facebook's 1.6 billion userbase, and the popularity of live video, this could be a perfect combination for success.

VatorNews has reached out to Facebook for more information about this new app, but the company had no comment at this time. 

(Image source: themarysue.com)