Facebook launches Lasso video app to bring back the teens

By most accounts Facebook isn't much of a hit with youngsters these days – it's just not cool enough, and is crawling with parents and grandparents – so enter Lasso, a new video and music sharing app that Facebook hopes will win some of its lost teens back.

Coincidentally, Lasso isn't hugely different from TikTok, one of the up and coming apps currently proving popular with the younger generation. Both focus on sharing short video clips and popular music tracks with small groups of friends, and both come packed with a bunch of camera and filter effects to play around with.

"Lasso makes it easy for anyone to create and share short videos with fun filters and effects," says the app description. "Follow creators, search hashtags, discover popular viral video trends and join in by putting your own spin on them."

Lasso is the new Lifestage

Of course Facebook has a long history of launching new apps to try and ride the wave of whatever is proving a hit with the kids at the time – Lifestage, anyone? Facebook Rooms? Most of these spin-offs end up being largely ignored by the majority of users.

When that doesn't work, Facebook simply buys up the competition, as it did with TBH, an anonymous commenting app that was gaining traction with teens before Facebook picked it up and promptly shut it down. Going further back in time, there are the big money acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram too.

We'll wait and see if Lasso fares any better than Facebook's previous attempts to recapture some of its mojo. The free app hasn't been officially announced by Facebook yet, and is only available to download for Android and iOS in the US for the time being.