Snapchat no longer is the only social media site with disappearing messages. Facebook is experimenting with that feature.
To try to see if the feature works, tap the hourglass icon on the top right of the chat window to activate it, reports USA Today. Once activated, the message sent would vanish after 60 minutes. The feature would deactivate by tapping the same icon again.
While the chat bubbles would remain after an hour, its content would be empty if the feature has been activated. However, the feature is so far available only in France. But in the future, Facebook may expand it to other countries.
It is unknown if with Facebook's disappearing message feature if users can take a screenshot of a message or an image before it is gone permanently. In Snapchat, it could be done, although the sender of the message or photo would get a notification that someone captured an image or message sent.
In 2013, Facebook attempted to buy Snapchat for $3 billion, but Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel rejected the offer. The feature activation is seen as part of the rivalry between Snapchat and Facebook. The largest social media site founded by Mark Zuckerberg has 8 billion videos being viewed every day, slightly larger compared to Snapchat's 6 billion.
But in terms of members, Facebook is so far ahead with 1.5 billion, while Snapchat has about 100 million daily users, reports The Verge.
Snapchat, though is favored more by younger users, while Facebook just acquired "Daddy" status when U.S. President Barack Obama opened earlier this week an official Facebook account for the President of the United States.