Facebook tried to emulate Snapchat with its Slingshot app with minimal success, but the company hasn’t given up yet. In order to keep users coming back to the app, Facebook has announced a new Explore feature that helps users find funny, inspiring and creative” people who are also using Slingshot. The feature focuses mainly on the app’s most popular users and allows other people to see their photos so that they can see if they’re worth following.
Looking to give users a reason to keep coming back to Slingshot, Facebook’s wanna-be Snapchat app, it has just announced Explore, a tool designed to find “funny, inspiring and creative” people using the service. In a blog post Tuesday, Slingshot said Explore was all about giving users what they wanted: a way to find the people on the app doing interesting things. “As we grow, many have asked for an easier way to discover other creative people around the world,” Slingshot wrote. “We wanted to do this in a fun way that puts the focus on people and helps create new connections within our community.” Slingshot said Explore focuses on the app’s popular users, letting others see their photos and decide which of them to follow. The feature seems to be opt-out, meaning users can choose not to be visible via Explore. Facebook had hoped it could bottle some of Snapchat’s magic with Slingshot. But that doesn’t seem to have worked. In December, it redesigned the app. At the time, it added the ability to send looping videos or full-screen pictures with just two taps on the screen. Users could also pick from five filters, and add drawings and captions.
