Gadgetory

I'm Ellis with the verge and this is our first look at Facebook snapchat killer slingshot slingshot is a lot like snapchat a camera screen is the first thing you see when you open the app tap to take a photo and hold to take a video you can caption your shots and even draw on them using various colors and brush sizes pick a few friends hit Sling and your photo or video is sent it all seems very familiar except in slingshot you can't view shots from friends until you send them a shot back first only then do their locked chats become unlocked and you can view them the mechanic doesn't make much sense unless you think about slingshot the way Facebook does not as a messaging app like snapchat but as an app for status updates and for sharing casual photos and videos to lots of people at the same time in this way each shot is like a status update but is also a nudge to get friends to show you what they're up to flipping through the feat of shots you've unlocked feels like an idealized version of Facebook where every shot is fullscreen and meant just for you you can tap on one to take a quick reaction shot or make a text comment and like snapchat every shot and reaction is gone forever once you've swiped it away but like conventional status updates on Facebook these posts don't feel urgent like texts or snaps since you can't view them on demand so what's the real difference between the two ephemeral apps sling shot includes the select all button something snapchat diehards have been begging for and sling shot is certainly noisier slingshots pay-to-play mechanic might be too confusing to get your friends to join it feels weird to get a push notification for a message and be unable to read it until you take the time to share something back and what if I have nothing to share Facebook doesn't call slingshot a messaging app but it looks so much like snapchat that it's easy to forget how you're supposed to be using slingshot yet the app shows that Facebook isn't afraid to experiment with new ways to let you share and new ways to incentivize sharing be on Facebook proper