[mtrpcic]

What apps are you referencing that Meta/Facebook launched and failed to clone Snap/Houseparty/IRL? Their snap competitor is Instagram, and it's still doing very well. Instagram is _also_ their TikTok competitor, and Reels has done a solid job in that space as well.

[john_max_1]

  1. Bonfire - HouseParty clone https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/3/18528317/facebook-bonfire-shutdown-group-video-chat-houseparty-clone
  2. Poke - Snap clone https://www.vox.com/2018/2/17/17022586/facebook-snapchat-poke-clone-mark-zuckerberg-evan-spiegel-billy-gallagher
  3. Slingshot - Snap clone https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/10/snapchat-clones-facebook-copies

Note: Can't seem to find the one for IRL

[pavlov]

Thing is, these were intentionally created as experiments with the expectation that they would be eventually shut down, with whatever learnings integrated into the mainline apps.

Since about 2017-18 there has been a unit at Facebook called NPE, New Product Experimentation, tasked with producing these.