Facebook has quietly released a new app called Lasso. This is to compete with TikTok which is the app with short, fun videos. TikTok recently merged with musical.ly. Facebook admits having lost its hold over teenagers’ attention. Lasso is to attempt at reigning that attention once again. Reports say that in 2018, only half of the teens admitted to using Facebook. Merely four years ago in 2014, around 70% of teens had admitted to using Facebook. The app was in developmental stages in October. According to The Verge, a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement:

“Lasso is a new standalone app for short-form, entertaining videos — from comedy to beauty to fitness and more. We’re excited about the potential here, and we’ll be gathering feedback from people and creators.”

What it brings

Lasso is to have users create 15-second fun videos similar to those already made on TikTok. Users can record themselves lip-syncing or dancing to songs. Users can also make short video clips like Vines. A user can sign in on Lasso using Instagram. A new account can be created on Lasso using Facebook. The user needs to authorize the app to have access to their photos, videos and profile page. After the app has the authorization, the user can access data on the app. There is a myriad of videos that autoplay as the user scrolls past. The videos have hashtags at the bottom, and it is possible to filter videos according to tags. It is possible to share Lasso videos as Facebook stories. The feature to share Lasso videos as Instagram stories will come later. It is not possible to make a Lasso profile private. The app description on Google Play reads:

“Lasso makes it easy for anyone to create and share short videos with fun filters and effects. Follow creators, search hashtags, discover popular viral video trends and join in by putting your spin on them. Once you’ve found a video that’s trending, whether it’s #comedy or #fail, you can use the in-app camera to create your spin on them with special effects, music, text on video and editing tools that you can use to cut and edit your funny videos. Add hashtags to your video to share it with the world! You can also add your vines directly to your Facebook story.”

Odd discretion

There was content already present on the app once it was launched. This proved that Facebook released the app to beta users sometime earlier. Facebook is a couple of years late with the idea as Tik Tok has been around since 2016. This can be one of the reasons for the odd discretion about the launch by Facebook. Facebook made no official announcement at all. Facebook product manager Andy Huang announced the launch merely through a tweet. Brown Pan, official product manager for Lasso also tweeted:

Today, my team launched Lasso (@lassovideos), a new video app that lets you create short, fun videos and share them with friends.

Check it out on:
– iOS App Store: https://t.co/2MngxBOem0
– Android Play Store: https://t.co/jpy1tgy8wT
— Bowen Pan (@bowenpan) November 9, 2018