Everybody talks about Facebook’s Slingshot app so much, we are starting to suspect that the app’s accidental release last week was just a marketing scheme to give people a taste of it and then take it away from them.

We are not sure that this is how things went down, but it is a fun thought to explore. What we are sure of is that yesterday afternoon, the Slingshot app was finally and officially released into the world.

Is it similar to Snapchat? We said it before and we will say it again: yes, yes it is similar and yet, a bit different, as it truly promises the users to protect their shared content by making it disappear in the blink of an eye.

This is Facebook taking another (sling) shot to gain back its most important niche of users: the teenagers. Also, the tech giant wants us to interact better and feel closer to each other, just like the social media platform intends:

With Slingshot, we wanted to build something where everybody is a creator and nobody is just a spectator. When everyone participates, there’s less pressure, more creativity and even the little things in life can turn into awesome shared experiences. This is what Slingshot is all about. Photos and videos that don’t stick around forever allow for sharing that’s more expressive, raw and spontaneous. We can connect the same way we like to live: in the moment. We’ve enjoyed using Snapchat to send each other ephemeral messages and expect there to be a variety of apps that explore this new way of sharing. 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.

We are still a bit worried about those special types of creeps who will send less – than – innocent photos to their network protected by the ephemeral status of everything sent through the Slingshot app, but that time hasn’t come yet and we hope we’re not giving anybody nefarious ideas. The Slingshot app is available from now in the United States on iPhone (iOS7) and Android (Jelly Bean and KitKat).

However, Snapchat seems to be one step ahead of Facebook and its Slingshot app, as it introduced a live – chat feature last week. As you can imagine, the freshly released Slingshot doesn’t sport such important opportunity. However, it plays the card of communication, collaboration and immediate feedback. We’re waiting for more news, reviews and opinions about the Slingshot app and if you already got your hands on it, don’t be shy in sharing with us your experience with the app!

Sometimes last month we presented you with Facebook’s answer to Snapchat: the Slingshot app, a secret weapon Facebook wants to use to terminate the reign of the Snapchat.

On Monday afternoon, the tech giant released the iOS app to some selected markets and hoped for the best. In case you don’t remember how Slingshot works, let us remind you: just like its enemy, it allows the users to sling back and forth photos and videos with their contacts.

The trick is that when you receive a snapshot or a video from a friend, you first have to sling something back to her / him in order to see what you received.

With this new product, Facebook aims to win over the much – desired clients’ niche: teenagers. They are very hooked on Snapchat, so Facebook wants a piece of the cake.

Snapchat’s growing popularity was founded on the premises that all media material self – destructs. As we all know by now, nothing actually disappears forever and for good, and Snapchat had its dark moments a few months ago trying to explain itself to the population. The leverage the Facebook Slingshot’s app has on Snapchat, as promised by Mark Zuckerberg, is that the Slingshot app indeed makes the photo / video content vanish in the thin air after one viewing only.

When we first talked about Facebook’s plans to release the Slingshot app, we were curious about the feedback users can give each other. In the mean time, we found out that there is indeed a “reaction” feature: with a simple tap you can snap a selfie and send it back to the one you received a photo or a video from. The selfie should capture your reaction upon opening the message.

While the Facebook Slingshot app and Snapchat have a lot of features in common, Facebook is very confident in its success. So confident in fact, that it released the app by accident on Monday. So here we arrived at the hottest part of the plot: an update on tech journals announced that the company released the app by mistake. In the words of a Facebook official,

Earlier today, we accidentally released a version of Slingshot, a new app we’re working on. With Slingshot, you’ll be able to share everyday moments with lots of people at once. It’ll be ready soon and we’re excited for you to try it out.

Piles of updates gathered in matter of hours, all reporting that the link to the iOS app was removed. So far, nobody knows exactly when the Facebook Slingshot app will have its second coming, therefore we will all have to wait for further news and leaks related to the Slingshot.

We reported a while ago that Facebook attempted to buy the popular social media app Snapchat for about $3 billion and failed miserably. On the other hand, Snapchat managed to disappoint an entire world for not being as honest as it boasted back in the day, so Facebook’s interest in Snapchat faded away in time.

However, the tech giant is working on yet another secret weapon to expand its ruling over all social media networks, apps and platforms. Recent rumors suggest that Facebook’s most brilliant, with Mark Zuckerberg to lead them, are working on their own video / photo messaging app. The Slingshot app, Snapchathot”s direct competitor, is said to be released sometimes later this month.

The Slingshot app has a definite leverage over Snapchat, as is it said to have the ability to make videos and pictures disappear after only one view. This is the promise Snapchat didn’t keep and now Facebook is playing this card as fast as it can in order to bury its competitor once and for all. However, Slingshot’s alleged feature also raises an important question: if the app allows only one view of a photo or a short video, does this mean that the reply option doesn’t exist? And if there is no reply, how can this app be considered a “social media” tool? And if the content vanishes in the thin air without giving the receiver the opportunity to offer feedback, doesn’t this leave a lot of room for inappropriate content to be sent with mischievous purposes ? Maybe we are way ahead of ourselves, but we will look deeper into the matters.

Back to the Slingshot app and Facebook’s attempts to create a competitive product to swing back at Snapchat, tech columnists say that

It is expected that unlike Facebook’s other features, Slingshot will be a standalone app, completely usable without the Facebook app; though presumably not usable without a Facebook account. While Snapchat requires only a phone number for an activated account, Facebook will push the primary users of this service (teens) to sign up with their Facebook accounts. Facebook has been slipping in the teenage demographic for some time, and this could be an interesting ploy to win them back. On the other hand, a Facebook connection can hinder the anonymity and assumed ephemeral aspect of the app.

All these are just rumors and assumptions, as no official statement related to the Slingshot app has been released yet. One interesting hypothesis is related to the Slingshot’s visuals, a field where Instagram’s effects might play an important role. Until we find out more, stay tuned to the news!