Even after cloning most of Snapchat’s features and porting them over to its suite of mobile apps, Facebook still doesn’t seem to be putting an end to its desire to eliminate competition. According to fresh reports, the social networking giant is now said to be developing a messaging app, focused particularly towards the teen population. But, it will surely assuage the parents as well.
The Information reports that code segments spotted within the core Facebook mobile app point towards a new, unreleased app called Talk. It is presently unknown if this is the actual or code name for the messaging app but it contains references to some features that hint it could become popular among the youth.
The company is looking to bank on the creativity of children 13 years and older to add fun new ways of interaction with friends and family. It may borrow or build on the mini games and camera features from its widely popular Messenger app. The code references to the following statement:
Kids love using the creative tools in “Talk” to play games and share fun masks with family and friends.
In addition, the messaging app is also said to contain some features that may be appealing to the older generation as compared to their kids. This means the Talk messaging app may include ‘parental’ controls that’ll enable parents to manage their kid’s accounts and choose what all contacts they should access to.
The parents themselves will chat with their kids in Messenger, which seems like an odd decision but an easy one. Facebook doesn’t want to on board parent on Talk and keep it restricted only to the younger populace. Also, they don’t want parents to have to go to the hassles of installing another app on their phone. Talking about the same, the report adds,
The code alludes to parent-centric features for filtering who teens can talk to, saying “Talk is a messaging app where you fully control the contacts.” Another line of the code states that children will talk to parents in Messenger.
This is not the first time that Facebook has tried developing or launching a Snapchat competitor in the market. Previously, the social media giant had debuted a Snapchat clone called ‘Flash’ in Brazil. It was debuted as a lightweight alternative for one of the most popular messaging apps, focused towards tapping the youth population in emerging markets. It brought along an interface awfully similar to Snapchat, complete with augmented reality face masks.
It seems Facebook had been testing the waters with the release of Flash is now most likely gearing up to launch an exclusive app to lure the millennial generation away from Snapchat — which is still popular among them for its wonderful face masks and robust ephemeral messaging features. The availability of code segments in the core app suggests that it is an experiment and it could be just that. It is highly possible that Talk may never see the light of day, especially when Facebook has integrated all the fun and hip features into all of its apps.
