Facebook took a sling and a miss earlier this week with the release of a brand new application called Slingshot that is similar in nature to Snapchat but advances several compelling features that, at first glance, make it seem like an upgrade from Snapchat. However, the lack of autonomy and its pressurized nature could keep this app from viably competing with the already established alternative. Time will tell. But who better to release such an app than a technology powerhouse such as Facebook, which already boasts a vast audience ripe for the marketing picking? I gave the app a download and initially thought it was awesome. Way better than Snapchat. But the more I played, the more frustrated I became. Sure, a bit of frustration usually does come along with a new technology as users familiarize themselves with the flow of a new system. So before I dive into the flaws, let me touch on the positives:

The gestures are fun and nicely integrated into the UX.

The drawing function is an improvement over Snapchat, as a person has more control over the brush size for drawing over captured images.

The name. Well done on the branding here, Facebook. Phrases like "Slinging shots" and "Hey, open that Sling I just shot you!" have a nice ring and fit well into modern teen slang.

However, the main selling point of Slingshot is also what I think will be the main obstacle to its success. According to Joey Flynn, Slingshot designer, "It’s not just about telling your story, it’s about asking others for their story." But if there's one thing I know about storytelling, it's that stories must be told organically. Force a story and the end result is likely just that -- forced. Part of the appeal of Snapchat is obviously its ephemerality. I'm much more inclined to send a goofy picture of myself when I know it disappears in a few seconds, but if that goofiness could be replayed over and over again, you can bet that I wouldn't ever send it in the first place. That's precisely what you can do with Slingshot. Your images or videos can be replayed multiple times until the viewer is saturated with your "story." That in itself inhibits the jovial nature of what is said to be an app that facilitates story telling like never before. The non-permanentness of Snapchat encourages stories that captivate personality, humor, and much more beneath-the-surface emotion. Slingshot has set itself up for stories filled with complete and utter impassivity. When I imagine the flow of a Slingshot conversation, I picture a vast amount of dearth. That is, a whole lot of "shots" of walls, computer desks, selfies with the same ol' expression, and out-of-focus objects -- because people just want to see what's on the other end.

The word that keeps coming to mind here is pressure. With Snapchat, a user experiences little pressure or the anxiety that comes along with it. One can send a photo or video and know that it disappears (at least to our knowledge) after several seconds. If it's screenshotted, that person knows about it. You can send and receive Snapchats at your leisure. But Slingshot lost sight of its customers and was driven by business instead of empathy. A push for content was more important than the user's experience and took away the autonomy of the individual. To see a picture, you must also send one. But the trouble here is that not everyone feels like they always have a story to tell (at least not at every waking moment), and forcing them to tell one will result in lesser quality stories. What's more important here, the amount of stories or the quality of stories? Take Snapchat's My Story function, for example. People upload a series of videos or photos that work in conjunction with one another to tell a story from a particular happening in their life. But these stories are crafted carefully and precisely at just the right time, so the end results are natural and convincing.

Months from now I could be kicking myself for jumping to conclusions. Maybe Facebook was right on target with this innovative concept, and I'm anxious to see how Slingshot fares against Snapchat. But in the end, I anticipate Snapchat to reign supreme because it's more ephemeral and less needy.

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