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Facebook's Slingshot just can't compete with Yo

Image Credit: Flickr/Martin

Slingshot, Facebook’s second attempt to clone Snapchat, is now available worldwide — but the app’s already sliding down the App Store charts in the U.S.

After accidentally revealing Slingshot on June 9, and then formally lunching the app on June 17, it appears that Facebook’s ephemeral messaging service is neither a flop nor a splash. Singshot follows Facebook’s first ephemeral messaging app attempt, Poke, which was killed off in May.

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Facebook’s Slingshot, backed by all that social networking might, is lagging behind Yo, a significantly less functional app that began as an April Fools’ Day joke. For fun, let’s compare the two, with data provided by app tracking site App Annie. Here’s Facebook’s Slingshot, which topped the charts at #46 overall in the U.S., and currently sits at the #32 spot among top photo and video apps.

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Next, here’s Yo, which topped the charts at #4 overall in the U.S., and current sits at the #4 spot among the top social networking apps.

As a bonus, here’s Snapchat, which currently sits at the #10 spot overall in the U.S.:

Of course, Yo’s success is as confusing as it is temporary. But it’s quite amusing to see Facebook, a social networking behemoth, lag far behind a joke app released over a similar time period.

But most importantly, even on launch Facebook’s Slingshot didn’t manage to draw attention away from Snapchat. For Facebook, it looks like Slingshot is strike two.

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