Facebook Flash takes on Snapchat in emerging markets

Facebook has recently become more aggressive in its expansion into other territories, particularly those already held by bigger names in that area. Facebook Workplace struck at Slack even before Microsoft got its Teams out the door. Facebook was recently reported to be aiming for LinkedIn as well. Heck, it is even taking a stab at Valve's Steam with Facebook Gameroom. And now, it is again trying to wrest the crown from Snapchat, for the third time already. But this time, Facebook Flash is treading where Snapchat might have difficulty walking into: Internet-constrained markets.

If you disregard privacy and security scandals, Snapchat was clearly on to something that caught other social networking services unprepared. Short bursts of ephemeral posts quickly gained popularity, to the point that Facebook itself scrambled, and tripped, not once but twice, to replicate Snapchat's success. The first was in 2012 when it launched Facebook Poke, only to kill it two years later. In that same year, Facebook launched Slingshot, which only lasted for a year.

Third time's a charm right? With Flash, however, Facebook is taking a slightly different approach. Following the success of its Facebook Lite Android app, Flash offers the same self-destructing photo sharing fun that Snapchat does, but at one-third the installed size on the smartphone. In markets were 16 GB of internal storage is the status quo, some even down to 8 GB, that 25 MB app is a space-saving wonder.

Facebook Flash most likely also has some secret sauce that would make the app use up less data while offering the same functionality. After all, that would be the point of this "lite" app, right? So far, however, Facebook has been coy about the app's features. In fact, it isn't really talking much about it, except when it launched the app in Brazil this week.

The social networking giant is also keeping mum on where the app is heading to next. A good guess is India, where the company has been working hard to penetrate. Facebook Flash is also available only on Android, which isn't exactly a surprise, as Facebook Lite is also not available on iOS.

VIA: Re/code