We all love Facebook, where you can stay in touch with family members who post morally questionable statuses and people from high school who used to be mean to you. Now, in order to keep us hooked on our favourite platform, Facebook has released a meme-making app for everyone.
Well, not for everyone actually. The new app has only launched in Canada so far. If you try and find ‘Whale’ on the UK app-store at the moment it suggests a long list of whale simulator games.
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According to The Information – who reported that the release of Whale had been kept very quiet – the new app offers users an easy way to mix images with text and special filters. Creators choose images from their backlog of selfies or from a stock photo selection, mix in some special effects, then share their finished meme through Facebook apps like messenger and Instagram.
The app has been developed by Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team, which was set up a few months ago to work on new apps for Facebook. The same team has been credited with previous app creations Bump and Aux. All three apps are oriented towards younger users.
The development of this new meme-creator also comes shortly after Instagram was accused of copying TikTok’s youth-friendly features.
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Don’t get your hopes too high for the arrival of Whale anytime soon though. Speaking with The Information, a Facebook spokesperson said that the apps spewing forth from NPE aren’t necessarily here to stay.
Instead, the team will be releasing creations and seeing what sticks – anything that doesn’t prove popular (or in their words ‘useful’) to Facebook users will probably have the plug pulled. So there’s a chance the Whale could be extinct before it even reaches UK shores.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
