Facebook launches mobile app that does not require Facebook account: Report

Facebook  launched a smartphone app on Tuesday that will allow consumers to exchange disappearing photos and videos without requiring Facebook accounts, the internet company’s latest effort to develop mobile services beyond its core social network.

The new app, dubbed slingshot, allows users to sign up for the service with their mobile phone number and connect with friends in their phone’s contact list or if they want by finding their Facebook friends.

Photos on slingshot disappears from users phones shortly after they are viewed, reflecting a growing anxiety about privacy in the age of internet social networking.

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Facebook release of slingshot comes as a new crop of mobile messaging services gain popularity and threatens to draw younger user away from Facebook’s 1.28 billion user social networks.

To help mitigate the threat from alternative social networks, Facebook is developing a variety of standalone apps and acquiring fast growing rivals. In 2012 it acquired photo sharing service instagram and February it announced plans to acquire messaging app whatsApp for $19 billion.

Slingshot will be available in the united states on Tuesday for android and iOS devices