--- description: Can Facebook roll out a standalone app that's even half as popular as Facebook itself? title: This Is the 1 Thing Facebook Can't Figure Out image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe525ea6bf418ff3/6987697fcd68485ccc09810c/facebook-apps-creative-labs-rooms-slingshot-groups-messenger-paper.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [apps](/tag/apps/) ## apps Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is the 1 Thing Facebook Can't Figure Out  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 20, 2014 3:18 PM CUT  LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 06: In this photo illustration an Apple iPad displays it's home screen on August 6, 2014 in London, England. iPad maker Apple is selling fewer units than in the same quarter in 2013, it is reported. (Photo illustration by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 06: In this photo illustration an Apple iPad displays it's home screen on August 6, 2014 in London, England. iPad maker Apple is selling fewer units than in the same quarter in 2013, it is reported. (Photo illustration by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 20, 2014 3:18 PM CUT Facebook has a good track record of pulling off big things. [One-sixth of the world’s population](http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/ "undefined") is on the social media platform, which, by the way, is also developing [laser-based Internet](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/851574%5F611544752265540%5F1262758947%5Fn.pdf "undefined") to connect the rest of the humanity while its CEO finds time to pick up [Mandarin Chinese.](http://time.com/3534248/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-chinese/ "undefined") But if there’s one project that’s stumped the company, it’s the very thing that made Facebook what it is today: Creating the Next Big Thing, particularly in the form of a new mobile app. Facebook has recently released several apps separate from its primary offering, hoping one will be a hit. Its most recent attempt, Groups, takes the social media platform’s group messaging feature and spins it off into a separate mobile app. Before Groups arrived on Tuesday, there was [Rooms](http://time.com/3534690/facebook-anonymous-app-rooms/ "undefined"), an anonymous chatroom app, [Slingshot](time.com/2890337/facebooks-slingshot-snapchat/ "undefined"), a Snapchat-style disappearing messages app, Paper, a Facebook app redesigned for mobile devices and a [much-mocked](http://time.com/3020202/william-shatner-facebook-mentions-review/ "undefined") “Facebook for celebrities.” Rooms and Slingshot are standouts because they’re the company’s first attempts at designing a completely new app outside its core platform. And while Slingshot feels very much like a Snapchat clone, Rooms, with its focus on old-school online chatting’s anonymity, is curiously distant from Facebook’s real-life focus. That makes it special among other apps from Facebook Creative Labs, a Facebook initiative that seeks to create new platforms to “[support the diverse ways people want to connect and share](https://www.facebook.com/labs "undefined").” While the Facebook Creative Labs’ mission statement doesn’t say anything about building _mainstream_ ways to connect, making popular apps seems an implied goal of a company that wants to be as much of a daily presence as [running water.](http://time.com/3568439/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-interview/ "undefined") However, most of Facebook’s standalone apps have seen their rankings nosedive since their debuts, according to data from business intelligence firm App Annie. (Groups is still too new to track.) ### This Is What Your Facebook Profile Looked Like Over the Last 11 Years  The Original Facebook Group Page, 2004\. Before people realized how awesome pictures are. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2005\. Back when Facebook looked a little bit like MySpace. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page Facelift, 2005\. The "the" is finally dropped. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2006\. You no longer need to be reminded "this is you" at the top of your profile page. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2007\. Every profile update still had to begin with "is," forcing you to talk about yourself in the third person. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2008\. The wall. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2009\. It only took five years for Facebook to create easy-to-find privacy settings. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2010\. Facebook starts to get pretty. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2011\. Zuckerberg realizes that people love pictures, usually of animals. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2012\. The timeline allows you (or your parents) to trace your life from birth to death. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2013-2014\. Facebook introduced a new app, Paper, on Monday. Courtesy of Facebook  Facebook Profile Page, 2014-2015\. Facebook updated both the newsfeed algorithm and the privacy settings. Courtesy of Alex Fitzpatrick/Facebook Facebook does have a proven, if unpopular, way to get people to download its standalone apps — it can force them to do so. Several months ago, Facebook removed the messaging feature from its primary mobile app, telling users to go download the separate Messenger app instead if they wanted to keep privately messaging their Facebook friends. Messenger quickly climbed to the top of the app rankings and mostly remained there, despite poor reviews from users upset over the split. But Facebook, like other social media companies, has shown it has another option, too: Finding successful apps outside the company’s walls and snatching them up in big-money acquisitions. Facebook’s desire to capture top-notch, widely-embraced apps — and keep them out of rivals’ hands — helps explain why the company paid nearly $1 billion for photo-sharing app Instagram and a jaw-dropping $19 billion for the WhatsApp messaging app, with both deals involving a mixture of cash and Facebook stock. Whether Facebook can ever come up with a new mobile app that people really love — or if it should even bother trying — is an open question. But that clearly hasn’t stopped Facebook from trying to think up the “[next Snapchat,](https://hbr.org/2014/10/more-and-more-companies-want-a-piece-of-the-next-snapchat "undefined")” even if some of its attempts, like the now-extinct Poke and Camera, have totally flopped. As CEO Mark Zuckerberg [said](https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=828790510512059&set=vb.823440467713730&type=2&theater "undefined") himself, the failure of new products has been “humbling.” As a company on top of its own particular mountain, Facebook can afford to learn by trial and error. So until it adds one of its own creations to its portfolio of big-name apps, expect it to keep trying. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3594686/facebook-apps/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3594686/facebook-apps/"},"headline":"This Is the 1 Thing Facebook Can't Figure Out","datePublished":"2014-11-20T15:18:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:45:32.963Z","description":"Can Facebook make a popular standalone app?","url":"https://time.com/3594686/facebook-apps/","keywords":["apps","Tech","Social Media","facebook","Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe525ea6bf418ff3/6987697fcd68485ccc09810c/facebook-apps-creative-labs-rooms-slingshot-groups-messenger-paper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe525ea6bf418ff3/6987697fcd68485ccc09810c/facebook-apps-creative-labs-rooms-slingshot-groups-messenger-paper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Facebook Creative Labs Apps","caption":"Facebook Creative Labs Apps","creditText":"Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/apps/","name":"apps"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3594686/facebook-apps/","name":"This Is the 1 Thing Facebook Can't Figure Out"}}]}] ```