Facebook launches TikTok competitor app ‘Lasso’

Ivideos. After that’s set up, you’re free to scroll through tons of short videos that autoplay as you pass by them.

Hashtags are displayed prominently on the bottom, and like other social media platforms, you can also filter content with tags. So far, you’re able to share Lasso videos as Facebook stories, with the feature to share them as Instagram stories to come later. You’re also unable to make your profile private.

According to a tech guy from The Verge who tried to log on to the app, Lasso is definitely a unique and interesting platform.

“I saw a dude in a beanie doing jump rope tricks to “Psycho” by Post Malone. In another video, two women danced along skillfully to “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran. Finally, in an impressive athletic display, six dudes performed flips over a woman who’s doing an upsidedown split to “I Like It” by Cardi B, before she performs an impressive flip herself.”

There’s already a wealth of content on Lasso, similar to what was already on Facebook Watch during its initial launch, indicating that Facebook probably opened the app up to a community of beta users before today.

Still, like Facebook Watch, Lasso might be a couple of years late on the uptake here. Bytedance’s TikTok, which is known as Douyin in China, has been around since 2016. Facebook has been oddly quiet about Lasso’s launch, with no official statement on its website. It was only on Twitter that Facebook product manager Andy Huang announced the app’s release. “Lasso, FB’s new short form video app is now available,” he said.

Lasso is available on iOS and Android. Want to give a try?

n case you missed it, Facebook has quietly released an app called Lasso that lets users create fun short videos designed to compete with TikTok, the viral 15-second video app that recently merged with Musical.ly.