(Yicai Global) May 18 -- ByteDance Technology has recently brought a photo-based social networking application into the fold and might be planning to add a Snapchat-like function to its short video platform TikTok, online tech media 36Kr reported today.

ByteDance discreetly bought Beijing Qingsong Shidian at the end of last year and appointed its founder as the executive-in-charge of TikTok’s social-networking technologies, the report said, citing Liang Yuming, head of the company’s infrastructure team.

The Chill app boasts a special anonymous mode, which allows users to share their private thoughts and personal secrets through photos while still protecting their privacy. It also allows users to ‘burn photos after viewing’ and supports the editing of videos for fun. Set up just over a year ago in January 2020, it has only been downloaded 20,000 times.

Founder Zhang Yebin has now joined the TikTok team, the report said. His is one of a number of new appointments that show that Beijing-based ByteDance is keen to expand the remit of the short video platform to finance, e-commerce and social networking.

Last month, the app got a new chief executive officer, Zhou Shouzi, who is also chief financial officer at ByteDance and recently joined the firm from handset maker Xiaomi. Zhu Wenjia, ex-CEO of the company’s news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, has moved to Singapore to take charge of TikTok’s technology division.

Editor: Kim Taylor