Facebook to take on Snapchat with competing app this year, says report

Facebook will soon launch a new app designed to compete with photo-sharing service Snapchat head-on, according to an AllThingsD report. Snapchat’s unique selling point is the ability to set a Mission Impossible-style time limit on your photo messages, ensuring that your chat partner can only see the shared images for a few seconds (their phone’s screenshot functionality notwithstanding). While AllThingsD doesn’t have a name or platform for the new Facebook app, it’s said to be set for launch in the next couple of weeks.