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Facebook Reveals New and Improved Slingshot App

December 5, 2014 By Daniel Giordano Leave a Comment

New and Improved Slingshot App
We all know that Facebook is trying to make Slingshot more popular than Snapchat, which is the most popular chat and messaging app used by millions of people everywhere. That’s why Facebook has announced the new and improved Slingshot app.

Slingshot allows its users to send direct and time-limited images and messages, this is an old features. One of the new features lets the Slingshot users view a 24 hour feed of their friends’ posts. Facebook calls these posts “Slings”. Snapchat calls theirs “Stories”.

The new Slingshot feature is a bit different than Snapchat’s. The user doesn’t need to select a particular friend and see the posts. All the recent friends’ posts are put together in a grid and there is an option that allows you to discover and follow other people outside the contacts book.

One of the most unusual features, especially since Facebook advertises Slingshot as being an app for ephemeral moments, is that it allows you to review the posts from yesterday and share them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The team behind the new and improved Slingshot app has explained features saying:

“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.”

Facebook launched Slingshot in June and tried to advertise it as a different fast messaging apps that already existed on the market. Slingshot differentiated itself from the others by asking the users to reply with a photo if they wanted to see a friend’s post. When it was launched, one of Slingshot’s creators, Will Ruben, explained that they introduced this feature because the Slingshot app was one where everyone creates and no one just stands and only does the watching.

After being deeply disliked by most of Slingshot’s users, the feature asking to reply in order to unlock the post was taken out.

Here’s what the team of creators had to say about the new and improved Slingshot app:

“We understand that improving a product isn’t only about what you add, but about what you remove, so we made a simpler, cleaner, more fun Slingshot.”

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: best message apps, facebook message apps, facebook new message app, facebook news, message apps, New and Improved Slingshot App, new slingshot app, slingshot app, Snapchat

Hackers Stole SnapChat Images, Snapsaved.com Claims

October 14, 2014 By Nicholas Anderton Leave a Comment

Back in August we announced that the SnapChat discovery service that was aimed at advertisers was coming to SnapChat in the near future. Today, we’re going to take a look at the latest SnapChat news: it appears that hackers stole SnapChat images off Snapsaved.com.

Hackers Stole SnapChat Images

Hackers Stole Snapchat Images

Snapsaved.com is a website that lets people save images which were sent to them via SnapChat. It was revealed by Snapsaved that hackers had breached the website’s servers and downloaded 500 MB of images. The website’s admittance comes a few days after rumors had surfaced that hackers were getting ready to release online more than 13 GB of pictures that were sent through SnapChat.

The application is loved by many because it deletes the pictures sent through it in a matter of seconds. With this in mind, users feel more compelled to send naked pictures of themselves. The use of websites such as Snapsaved.com doesn’t bring much joy to SnapChat owners.

SnapChat blames these website and third-party applications for any photos that may or may not have been stolen and published online.

Yesterday, Snapsaved released an official statement on their Facebook account that it had deleted their website and database the moment they had discovered that it had been hacked. They admitted that it was their website, Snapsaved, that was hacked and not SnapChat: SnapChat has not been hacked, and these images do not originate from their database. The website remains down, but not many things are known about it. Hackers stole SnapChat images off it and now we just have to wait and see if any photos are going to be leaked on the web.

Have you ever used SnapChat or Snapsaved.com? Are you afraid that your photos could be splashed all over the web? Drop us a line in the comment section below and tell us about it!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: hack, leak, news, Snapchat, spansaved

Snapchat Discovery Service Aimed at Advertisers Coming Soon

August 19, 2014 By Daniel Giordano Leave a Comment

Snapchat is one of the most successful social media app. With Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram and Twitter in the same boat, we are looking at strong competition. Against such an impressive pack of competitors, the unusual social media service, managed to reach number three, according to the latest stats.

Last month around 700 million photo messages and 500 million stories have been circulated through Snapchat, Dazeinfo states, so it might be a good time to introduce the Snapchat Discovery Service. In an increasingly controlled digital world, Snapchat seems like a breath of fresh air for anyone looking to send snaps of their lives without worrying about future uses of their data. Half of the Snapchaters are 18 to 24 years old. The age-group is somewhat attractive to some brands, be it brands wanting to form a future faithful clientele or the ones which count on present monetization.

Audi undertook a successful Snapchat campaign recently, while other companies such as Burger King, started using the service as well to deliver promotional content.

Snapchat Discovery service will be introduced to start monetizing the growing user base

Snapchat was evaluated at $860 million in July 2013. A year later Snapchat worth $10 billion. Facebook offered to buy the company for $3 billion in 2013, but Snapchat chose to go on its own way. The bold move proved to be successful so far. In the meantime Facebook decided to take a shot and introduce a similar service called Slingshot. Unfortunately for Facebook, user comments on Play Store are not very favorable so far.

Snapchat Discovery Service will help the company monetize ithe activity of ts growing user base.

The social media company plans to offer a new service which will help advertisers deliver content to Snapchaters. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Snapchat Discovery will be deployed soon. The service will insert advertisement material to users.

Snapchat Stories allows a similar action, but there is a difference between the two services. While users must actively seek the Stories, Snapchat Discovery will allow advertisers to reach users directly, Cnet states.

The social media company seeks to gain revenue out of its growing user base. Will the presence of ads deter users from engaging with Snapchat? Primarily, it will depend on how intrusive the ad placement will be. Snapchat counts on a less complex user interaction than Facebook. How successful will the Snapchat Discovery service be if users do not invest the same amount of effort as they do on Facebook?

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: Snapchat, snapchat discovery

The Slingshot App Was Finally Released. For the Second Time.

June 18, 2014 By Mary Duncan 1 Comment

the slingshot app 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!

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: Facebook, Slingshot, Snapchat

The Facebook Slingshot App Released Too Soon. By Accident.

June 11, 2014 By Mary Duncan Leave a Comment

facebook slingshot 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.

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: Facebook, Slingshot, Snapchat

The Slingshot App is Facebook’s Upcoming Secret Weapon

May 20, 2014 By David Crozier Leave a Comment

slingshotWe 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!

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: Facebook, Slingshot, Snapchat

4.6 million Snapchat usernames and mobile numbers leaked

January 1, 2014 By Brandi McCants 2 Comments

snapchatSnapchat is hitting adulthood with all the recent attacks on security and today the biggest leak has happened, with 4.7 million Snapchat usernames and mobile numbers leaked out into the wild, all from North America in the United States and Canada.

The hackers, under the website SnapchatDB, released a database full of usernames and mobile numbers, with the two last numbers censored to stop abuse and spam – the hosts have said they will send an uncensored version for free if they are messaged.

It does not seem to be a complete database of users in North America, it looks like the hackers were able to grab 76 of the 332 area codes available, plus an extra two from Canada. If anything, this shows the scale of Snapchat, if 4.6 million users account for only a third of the US Snapchat users.

This is not the first time Snapchat has had a mobile number breach, Gibson Security showed how they are able to grab 10,000 mobile numbers in seven minutes and released the API to try it out, exposing Snapchat’s big weakness.

Snapchat has yet to fail when it comes to photos, showing they take care on the service they provide. It is the back-end struggling, the mobile numbers and usernames attached to them seem to be the weakest link on Snapchat right now.

We can remember when Facebook and Twitter had the same security and privacy issues, in the stages where more teens were on the service and hackers were trying to find cracks in the well designed service, to take advantage of the millions of usernames and information.

Snapchat looks to be the next big thing when it comes to teenage usage, already we are seeing millions around the world flock to the photo sharing service and it only looks to get better, even with Snapchat declining a $4 billion offer from Facebook.

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: hacks, leaks, mobile app, photo sharing, Snapchat

Instagram Direct: another way to send photos through messaging

December 13, 2013 By Mary Duncan Leave a Comment

instagram-directIn a world where there are simply too many messaging apps, Instagram has decided to add Direct, a new feature allowing users to start one-to-one chats with friends. Instagram Direct will allow any user to message through a photo and then both can reply and chat in the same chat bubble.

The emphasis is on the photo feature, possibly pointing at Instagram Direct being a service to compete with Snapchat, rather than WhatsApp. The idea of adding a fully functioning messaging application on Instagram seems odd, considering Facebook Messenger is available and works.

Instagram has not went the full way, making sure users can only send a photo and then it is instantly deleted, but they will not allow a user to have multiple photos in one message bubble. When another photo is sent, it starts a new chat, removing all the text from the previous one.

Users will be able to send photos, videos and text to 15 friends and Instagram Direct allows the user to not broadcast all updates and photos to every follower. This is one of the main features of Snapchat, allowing users to send photos and then have them immediately deleted after a few seconds.

This type of quick removal allows Snapchat users to be less concerned when it comes to uploading a photo – simply because it is sent to people they know are going to like it and nobody is able to actually go back five hours later and show all their other friends.

Facebook has been looking to grab Snapchat or something equal for a while, after Poke failed the company apparently offered Snapchat and all in $3 billion deal, over $2 billion what the social network paid for Instagram.

Since Snapchat didn’t accept, Facebook is looking for ways to crack the photo messaging service – but we do not see Instagram Direct as the perfect way to do it.

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: Facebook, Instagram, Instagram Direct, messaging apps, Snapchat

Snapchat rejected $3 billion offer from Facebook

November 14, 2013 By Micheal Baptiste 1 Comment

snapchatFacebook has been known for going all in on no-revenue startups, Instagram being the main feature, but this is not the only big startup the social network has tried to acquire. According to WSJ, Facebook offered a $3 billion all-cash deal for Snapchat and the startup rejected the deal.

This is three times the amount Facebook were willing to pay for Instagram and a lot of investors are confused on the social networks considerations when putting this huge sum on the table, especially to a startup currently only making money through third party funding.

Snapchat does have the ideal demographic Facebook is trying to target, teens. News recently has said Facebook is no longer the cool social network, with teenagers and “hipsters” putting their life-story on Twitter and Instagram instead.

The idea of having disposable information apparently comforts a lot of users on Snapchat, where a photo on Instagram, tweet on Twitter and post on Facebook can stay forever, Snapchat gets rid of the snap within seconds and notifies the taker if someone gets a screenshot of the photo.

Snapchat has around 10 million active users, a far step away from Facebook at over 1 billion users and a shy fall away from Instagram’s 200 million active users. Despite the low stats on the user and revenue side, Facebook and many others believe Snapchat is a quality investment.

We are not sure if Snapchat will ever be “bought out” from the looks of things the startup is either quietly confident on the revenue and member front or they are seriously not up for being another Instagram/Tumblr $1 billion acquisition, even though this would be a $3 billion acquisition.

The other route would be an IPO, Twitter recently announced their public offering and currently sits around $40 on the stock market, even with no profit scheduled for 2013. It feels like this is the decade of IPO’s with no revenue but a great service and integral part in social world.

Filed Under: Apps/Softwares Tagged With: apps, Facebook, Snapchat, startups

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