Facebook closes department that had to make innovative mobile apps

Facebook is closing its division that was building innovative mobile apps. That has been confirmed by the social network. Out of that department came apps like Slingshot, Rooms, and Riff, all of which have disappeared from download stores.

The idea for Creative Labs came from hackathons, but eventually features of the apps were integrated into the regular Facebook apps and the apps themselves drew too little attention to continue to support, a spokesperson for the social network told Cnet. Facebook did little to promote the apps.

The best-known app from Creative Labs was Slingshot, an app that allows users to have chat conversations through photos and videos. In addition, Creative Labs made Rooms and Riff, among others. None of those apps attracted enough users on their own.

Despite Creative Labs closing, Facebook says it will continue to experiment with apps, as it has done with news app Paper and Instagram video service Hyperlapse.