New Facebook app is Snapchat with a catch

Facebook's new photo-sharing app Slingshot launches in Australia today. Source: Supplied

FACEBOOK launches its new photo and video sharing app in Australia today, with the social media giant muscling in on the territory of Snapchat.

The social media giant calls its disappearing photo and video messaging product exciting and unique, but others have dismissed it as "a gimmick designed to force user engagement".

Speaking exclusively to news.com.au from the US ahead of today's 3pm launch in Australia, product designer Joey Flynn and engineering lead Rocky Smith gave us the rundown on the new product, which exists completely separate from Facebook and can't be shared on other social media.

Slingshot is designed to be a place where everybody is a creator and nobody is a spectator.

Mr Flynn said the app was about sharing "inspiring, little, cool moments … the funny, fun, meaningful, heartfelt".

Slingshot notifies you when new shots appear. Source: Facebook

Swipe away shots when you're done with them. Source: Facebook

But there's a catch that sets Slingshot apart from the other popular ephemeral image-sharing app, Snapchat.

"The key piece of the app is the shot-for-shot mechanism," Mr Flynn said.

Slingshot is more designed for content creation and sharing moments, as opposed to a two-way conversation. What this means is that friends on Slingshot aren't able to see your picture or video until they send something back to you.

Users can send, or "sling", a shot to individuals or their whole friend group and it pops up on their feed pixelated. To see picture, the friends have to sling something back. Once they've viewed the unlocked image, friends can then respond with a new picture, video or text.

It moves the experience from one on one to a place where users are sharing and reacting to each others posts in the moment. It's like a visual status update.

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Mr Flynn said the shot-for-shot mechanism "dramatically changes the behaviour" of users.

"It's creative and inspiring … and it's meant for everyday moments," Mr Flynn said.

"In the video reactions, you can take one of those moments and add to it in an awesome, collaborative feel.

"People can respond to shots, and add their own flair to them. That's one of the defining features that makes it unique."

But some early adopters of the app in the US, where it has been live for a week, have criticised the shot-for-shot feature, saying it forces users to engage with the app.

Smartphone reviewer Brighthand said teasing the users with the pixelated messages was frustrating.

"The result is you and your friends constantly sharing uninteresting images purely to open each other's initial pictures. In just a weekend of using Slingshot, I received far more images of blank walls and ceilings than duck faces and lunches," it wrote on its website.

"Slingshot works as advertised, and it's certainly differentiated itself from Snapchat, but its forced-reply method of getting friends sharing frustrates when put into practice."

Mashable gave a mixed review. It wrote that the app was "fast and responsive" but ultimately concluded that it "feels like a gimmick designed to force user engagement".

"Facebook is essentially holding your messages hostage in the hopes of increasing engagement," it wrote.

You can react to what friends send in real time. Source: Facebook

You can draw on your photos to add flair. Source: Facebook

The Slingshot designers however said the opposite was true. Mr Flynn said because the design was for a large audience "the pressure to create is really low".

"When everyone participates, there's less pressure, more creativity and even the little things in life can turn into awesome shared experiences," the Slingshot blog says.

While Snapchat is synonymous with people send naughty photographs to each other, Mr Flynn said Slingshot was less likely to be a forum for sexually explicit material because posts go out to such a large audience. It is also easy to block users or report anything inappropriate.

"You have control over your audience," Mr Flynn said.

The designers said they had received positive feedback from users in the US already and were excited to see it rolled out in Australia.

"(Slingshot) is a place where everyone has the ability to be expressive and creative. We're excited to get this into people's hands," Mr Flynn said.

Like Snapchat users can write and draw on their pictures but, unlike Snapchat, pictures do not self destruct after a set time limit, but you can swipe them away once your done looking at them.

Slingshot in available in English on iPhone (iOS7) and Android (Jelly Bean and KitKat). You can create a profile with your phone number and can find friends through your phone contacts or Facebook. Read more about Slingshot here.

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