Facebook launched an application for smartphones that allow consumers to exchange photos and videos without an account on the social network, in the latest effort by the company to develop mobile services beyond their star product.
The new application, called Slingshot, allows users to register with mobile number and connect to friends list of phone contacts or, if desired, by finding friends on Facebook.
Slingshot photos disappear from users phones shortly after be seen, reflecting a growing concern about privacy in the age of social networking.
The launch of Slingshot comes at a time when gaining popularity various mobile messaging and threatening to attract younger users from the Facebook network, which has 1.280 million members.
To help mitigate the threat of alternative social networks, Facebook is developing a variety of independent applications and gaining rapidly growing rivals.
In 2012, bought the photo sharing service Instagram and in February announced plans to acquire the Messenger WhatsApp application for $ 19 billion.
Snapchat, an application that allows users to send messages that disappear automatically after few seconds, rejected a takeover offer $3 billion from Facebook last year, according to information from the media of that time.
Unlike other messaging applications, Slingshot will not allow users to view messages they have received from their friends to send back a photo or video itself.
The rule is designed to make Slingshot a service to which all contribute material, but may require a learning curve to confuse and scare off some users.
Slingshot will be available in the United States on Tuesday for devices running Android and iOS operating systems.