Facebook Launches its Own Version of Snapchat, Called Poke

When Snapchat launched a video update last week, AllThingsD reported that Facebook was planning on releasing its own photo and video sharing app to compete with Snapchat. Facebook’s new standalone app, Facebook Poke, was released today, expanding on Facebook's original "poke" concept.

After connecting to Facebook Poke with a Facebook account, users can take a video or photo, write a message, or send a standard poke notification to friends who are also Facebook users. Each message lasts only a few seconds before expiring, after which time it is no longer visible.

If a screenshot is taken, users are notified with a bright orange icon on the feed, which is the same functionality found in Snapchat. Users can browse through sent messages in Poke by tapping and holding on a message.

Media sent via Facebook Poke is not visible in the standard Facebook app, but people will get a Facebook notification to download Facebook Poke to see Poke messages. Like the rest of Facebook's apps, Poke has a menu for reporting inappropriate content.

Facebook Poke is a free download on Apple's App Store. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

kjs862

163 months ago

Wow, sexting gone mainstream. :eek:

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

bassfingers

Facebook is bloated and dying. It's got 18 months left before its replaced by something clean and simple

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

iwan073

You mean Google Plus

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

bushido

i dont get the point ... ?

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jj47

Why won't Facebook die already?

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

avanpelt

This will likely be quietly shelved in a few months. I'm sure it's just an experiment by Facebook to see if it takes off; and I doubt they really expect it to be a success. With a name like "Poke"? C'mon! For a second I thought I had pulled up the Onion!

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