Someone else has a toy, and Facebook really wants to play with it.

Several weeks ago, Facebook quietly shut down Poke, an app that was pretty much a clone of the monsterously successful Snapchat. Poke was released in 2012 and was touted as the next big thing in Facebook’s family of apps. However it was never on the same level as Snapchat, and in 2013, Facebook attempted and failed to purchase Snapchat with an offer to the tune of $3 billion.

It would seem that the Snapchat model is something Facebook desperately wants to get a toehold in, as evidenced by reports of a new app called Slingshot, which sends short video messages by tapping on the screen. The same reports caution that the app, while it has been in production for some months, may never be released.

Maybe it’s for the best. No one has yet managed to out-Snapchat Snapchat.

What Sparks Our Fire: It’s easy to tell what’s important in social media by the way that Facebook reacts to it.

Would you try out a Snapchat clone?