Snapchat has some new competition in the market for selfie photos that disappear after a few seconds.在“阅后即焚毁”式的自拍照片共享应用于市场，Snapchat又步入了新的竞争对手。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 startup that popularized the idea of disappearing messages and has quickly become one of the technology industry’s darlings.本周二，Facebook发售了一款取名为Slingshot的新应用于，用户可利用它与好友共享信息和图片，而这些信息和图片在对方看完之后迅速就不会消失。

Facebook目的通过这项新的服务来挑战新创公司Snapchat。后者普及了“阅后即焚毁”式的信息共享理念，而且早已迅速发展沦为业界争相追赶的新宠。

Slingshot puts its own spin on socalled 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.Slingshot的独有亮点在于所谓的一段时间信息传输机制，即拒绝拒绝接受图片的其他用户必需再行对此发送者。如果不对此，接收者就无法关上完整图片，不能看见像素简化的图片仅此而已。这个功能可保证用户双方交流对话，而不只是非常简单地接管别人的图片。

当然，随着Slingshot用户数量的大大减少，这项功能也合乎Facebook自身的利益市场需求。“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.”“每个人都是创作者，没有人是旁观者，我们期望利用Slingshot来构筑这样的氛围，”Facebook在一篇讲解这一新产品的博客文章中这样写到。“当每个人都参予其中时，压力就不会减低，创新就不会更加多，甚至生活中微不足道的小事也能转化成为令人惊叹的共享体验。

这就是Slingshot的全部意义所在。”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.Slingshot的开发人员甚至煞费苦心地在讲解信息中提及（实质上是批评）了Snapchat：“我们喜爱利用Snapchat来彼此发送到一段时间信息的作法，我们希望未来能经常出现各种各样探寻这种全新共享方式的类似于应用于。”但Facebook指出Slingshot可 以将这场竞争游戏提高一个档次。

“有了Slingshot，我们相等看见了建构出有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共享每一天的精彩瞬间，”Facebook在博文中这样写出到。

Users can also send videos from a smartphone camera, add a message commenting on a photo, or draw an image in response.Slingshot用户也可以发送到智能手机摄制的视频，还可以在照片上加到评论信息或者以绘图的形式展开恢复。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.去年，Facebook 曾开价30亿美元，期望并购Snapchat，但这家公司年长的创始人们拒绝接受了这个并购建议。鉴于Snapchat并无任何收益来源，因此当时的要求十分出人意料。但Facebook并没动怒它决心尝试以实际行动来背叛，于是Slingshot之后应运而生。

有些人甚至指出Slingshot就是Snapchat的2.0版或拷贝版。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.除了Slingshot之外，Facebook旗下的应用于阵营还包括聊天应用于Messenger以及大受欢迎的照片和视频服务应用于Instagram。最近，Facebook又以190亿美元的价格并购了通讯服务应用于WhatsApp。

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 Snapchatlike app called Poke a year after its release.考虑到Facebook在信息传送领域的大力拓展上曾有过告终的经历，因此现在我们还很难说Facebook发售的Slingshot一定能取得成功。就在上个月，Facebook刚下架了去年才公布的类Snapchat应用于Poke。

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