Facebook's Slingshot app gets a major makeover

The app now resembles Snapchat's Stories feature, with posts that last 24 hours before deleting

Slingshot, Facebook's latest attempt to mimic Snapchat, hasn't been around all that long. It was only released in June, yet it has already gone through a few different iterations.

At first it recreated Snapchat but with a twist: users could not unlock content until they send, or "sling," some content back. This was a unique feature, one that helped set Slingshot apart from Snapchat, but one that more than likely also caused a few headaches, and so Facebook removed it in September.

Now the app is getting a total makeover with brand new look and new features, one that is actually modeled after a different Snapchat service, it was announced on Thursday.

Here's what's new: the app now allows users to share photos and videos in a feed, rather than individually. So that when a user pulls down the camera they will see a grid of the most recent content from the past day. Content is posted for 24 hours before it is removed.

Another important development is the ability to follow other users. as well as instant notifications for notifications for "whenever they sling a shot."

The app also now has five photo filters, along with drawings and captions, which can be used on response pictures, in an effort to give the app a more conversational feel.

"With Slingshot we originally set out to create a place where you could share real, raw moments with your friends. Since we released the first version we have been listening to all of the great feedback from our community and have been cranking away at a big update that we’re super excited to release today," the company wrote.

The new Slingshot, as many have pointed out, more closely resembles Snapchat's Stories feature, where users are able to post videos and photos that can be viewed for a full 24 hours before they are deleted.

Slingshot has never taken off like Facebook hoped it had, and it could be in danger of the company's first attempt to replicate the other company's success. Poke, which debuted in December of 2012, allowed users to send each other messages, photos, or videos that had a set time limit before they expired. Each message was deleted after a specific time that the user set, either 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds.

The app was never really taken seriously, and Facebook seemed to quickly forget about it as well. By May of this year, Poke was no more.

Facebook's app suite

Slingshot is more than just Facebook's attempt to capture the magic of one of its biggest rivals; its also another piece of it's grand vision to develop a suite of stand alone mobile apps.

They also released an anonymity app, echoing services like Whisper and Secret, called Rooms. In addition, it  also bought fitness tracking app Moves and developed its own reader app, to give users top news, called Paper. 

There is now talk that the company could also be releasing its own professional network, called Facebook At Work, that would provide workplace collaboration tools.

And, of course, there was the decoupling of Messenger.

Some of these apps have faltered: Slingshot is actually Facebook's second attempt to capitalize on Snapchat's success, with its previous app, called Poke, falling flat. Forcing people to download Messenger, though, has been a big success; the app has grown to 500 million users, up from 200 million in April. 

(Image source: blog.sling.me)