收购Snapchat失手，Facebook携Slingshot再战私密社交江湖

    在“阅后即焚”式的自拍照片分享应用市场，Snapchat又迎来了新的竞争对手。

    本周二，Facebook推出了一款名为Slingshot的新应用，用户可利用它与好友分享信息和图片，而这些信息和图片在对方看过之后很快就会消失。Facebook旨在通过这项新服务来挑战新创公司Snapchat。后者普及了“阅后即焚”式的信息分享理念，而且已经很快发展成为业界争相追逐的新宠。

    Slingshot的独特亮点在于所谓的短暂信息传送机制，即要求接受图片的其他用户必须先回应发送者。如果不回应，接收者就无法打开原始图片，只能看到像素化的图片——仅此而已。这个功能可确保用户双方交流互动，而不只是简单地接收别人的图片。当然，随着Slingshot用户数量的不断增加，这项功能也符合Facebook自身的利益需求。

    “每个人都是创作者，没有人是旁观者，我们希望借助Slingshot来构筑这样的氛围，”Facebook在一篇介绍这一新产品的博客文章中这样写道。“当每个人都参与其中时，压力就会减轻，创意就会越来越多，甚至生活中微不足道的小事也能转化为令人惊叹的分享体验。这就是Slingshot的全部意义所在。”

    Slingshot的开发人员甚至煞费苦心地在介绍信息中提到（实质上是抨击）了Snapchat：“我们欣赏利用Snapchat来彼此发送短暂信息的做法，我们期望未来能出现各种各样探索这种全新分享方式的类似应用。”但Facebook认为Slingshot可以将这场竞争游戏提升一个档次。“有了Slingshot，我们等于看到了创造出与众不同全新交际空间的机遇。在这个空间中，大家可以与很多人即时分享每一天的精彩瞬间，”Facebook在博文中这样写到。

    Slingshot用户也可以发送智能手机拍摄的视频，还可以在照片上添加评论信息或者以绘图的形式进行回复。

    去年，Facebook 曾出价30亿美元，希望收购Snapchat，但这家公司年轻的创始人们拒绝了这个收购提议。鉴于Snapchat并无任何收益来源，因此当时的决定非常出人意料。但Facebook并没有动怒——它决意尝试以实际行动来报复，于是Slingshot便应运而生。有些人甚至认为Slingshot就是Snapchat的2.0版或复制版。

    除了Slingshot之外，Facebook旗下的应用阵营还包括聊天应用Messenger以及大受欢迎的照片和视频服务应用Instagram。最近，Facebook又以190亿美元的价格收购了通讯服务应用WhatsApp。

    考虑到Facebook在信息传递领域的大力开拓上曾有过失败的经历，因此现在我们还很难说Facebook推出的Slingshot一定能取得成功。就在上个月，Facebook才刚下架了去年才发布的类Snapchat应用Poke。（财富中文网）

    译者：徐黄兆

    Snapchat has some new competition in the market for selfie photos that disappear after a few seconds.

    On Tuesday, Facebook introduced Slingshot, an app for sharing messages and images with friends that vanish soon after they view them. With the new service, Facebook is challenging Snapchat, a start-up that popularized the idea of disappearing messages and has quickly become one of the technology industry’s darlings.

    Slingshot puts its own spin on so-called ephemeral messsaging by requiring anyone who receives a photo to respond to the sender. If they don’t, they are unable to open the original image and instead can only see a pixelated screen — and nothing more. The reasoning is to ensure people engage with one another and don’t simply receive photos without contributing. Of course, this is also serves Facebook’s interest by increasing use of the service.

    “With Slingshot, we wanted to build something where everybody is a creator and nobody is just a spectator,” Facebook said in a blog post introducing the new product. “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.”

    The Slingshot crew even took the time to mention (read: take a swipe at) Snapchat in its introductory message: “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.” But Facebook feels it can take the game up a notch. “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,” the post said.

    Users can also send videos from a smartphone camera, add a message commenting on a photo, or draw an image in response.

    Facebook FB 1.86% had offered to buy Snapchat for $3 billion last year, but the company’s young founders rejected an acquisition. It seemed like an astounding decision at the time considering Snapchat had no revenue. But Facebook didn’t get angry — it decided to try to get even. Some may even consider Slingshot to be a kind of Snapchat 2.0 or Snapchat clone.

    The new app joins a cast of others already owned by Facebook including the chatting app Messenger and Instagram, a popular photo and video service. Facebook also recently acquired the messaging service WhatsApp for $19 billion.

    Facebook’s success with Slingshot is hardly assured considering it has failed in the past to make much headway in the messaging space. Last month, it shut down a Snapchat-like app called Poke a year after its release.