Facebook Launches Sling – A New Messaging App

Facebook released a new instant messaging app that enables users to send photos or video to selected friends who can only see them if they send an image back.

Slingshot, available for Apple and Android devices, is the second product to come out of the social networking website’s Creative Labs ideas laboratory.
[blockquote cite=””] Shoot a photo or video of what you’re up to and sling it to a bunch of friends. They won’t be able to see your shot until they sling something back.
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Facebook Launches Sling – A New Messaging App for Both Apple and Android

Facebook tried to acquire Snapchat last year for US$3 billion, but failed. Slingshot photos and video self-destruct after viewing – although there’s nothing stopping a recipient from using a smartphone’s screenshot feature to copy a photo.

[blockquote cite=””] Photos and videos that don’t stick around forever allow for sharing that’s more expressive, raw and spontaneous. With Slingshot, we saw an opportunity to create something new and different: a space where you can share everyday moments with lots of people at once.
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Slingshot comes four months after Paper, the first app out of Creative Labs, which seeks to give Facebook more of a magazine feeling for mobile device users.