MUMBAI: Facebook, without making any noise, has released an app called Lasso that lets users create short videos in a bid to compete with TikTok which is the 15 second video app that recently merged with Musical.ly.
According to the reports, in 2018, only half of the teens claimed to use Facebook, compared to in 2014, when 71 per cent of them said that they still use it. In order to catch hold of its lost charm, Facebook has planned to set the ball rolling by launching Lasso to win over teens.
Lasso is almost the same as TikTok. Users can record themselves dancing, lip-syncing to music and recording short clips like Vines. The app is also available on iOS and Android. The rollout of the app was made with no official statement from the company on its website, said the reports. However, later, its product manager Bowen Pan specifically tweeted about its launch.
This isn’t the first time that the company has cloned an app. Facebook copied Snapchat by launching a standalone app called Slingshot in June 2014. After a year, it wasn’t available in the app store.