Snapchat is leaning into the second syllable of its name. In a blog post Thursday, the messaging service announced a new feature called "Chat" that will let people send text messages and make video calls through Snapchat.
Yes, it's called Snapchat Chat. Of course, the text messages won't be like regular SMS messages -- they'll disappear, just like Snapchat photos and video messages.
According to the blog post, the new features will be available soon with an update from the App Store or Google Play.
To send someone a text message via Snapchat, you just have to swipe right on your friend's name in your address book. And when someone is free to video chat, or as Snapchat says, "Here," you'll be able to press and hold to video chat with him or her.
Text messaging is the hot new frontier for tech companies. Facebook is taking messaging more seriously than ever with its acquisition of WhatsApp, and it plans to separate its own messaging service from the Facebook app.
While the new video and text chat features don't seem that different from other apps that are out there, we'll just let you use your imagination as to how these can be employed when you know your words or video are going to disappear. But kids, just remember that there's such a thing as screenshots -- and other, sneakier ways to save your supposedly ephemeral messages.