It is very rare that you get an application that is much better than the original model it was built around. Case in point: Snapchat. The application lets you send images to friends but which can only be viewed for a certain amount of time.

Facebook launched a similar application a few months ago called Slingshot, which works on the same principle. If you received a picture from a friend, you had to reply with an image to see what they sent you.

But the problem was that it didn’t really work. There are so many social media and sharing applications out there, like WhatsApp, that the application had a rather lacklustre uptake. And what is one to do? Well, if you are Facebook, you relaunch the app in the hopes that more people actually take notice.

“The new Slingshot: share life as it happens. 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,” Facebook said in a blog post.

In addition to sharing fullscreen photos and looping videos, Facebook added the ability to add drawings and captions to images, as well as five photo filters. While Facebook doesn’t explain whether you still need to reply with an image to view it, it does say that images will only be available for viewing for 24 hours.

We doubt that the relaunch of the application will make any difference in the usage patterns of users, but the app is available iPhone (iOS7+) and Android (Jelly Bean, KitKat and Lollipop).

[Source – Facebook]