Facebook is reportedly building a video chat app to rival Snapchat, which could be available in as little as a month.

As Digital Spy reported citing the Financial Times, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is overseeing the project, known internally as 'Slingshot'.

The move comes after it emerged that the social networking leader failed to win over Snapchat with an acquisition bid worth $3 billion last November.

Although specific details about the app are thin, 'Slingshot' will apparently work in a similar way to its main competitor with a "simple and speedy user interface" that will enable users to send short video messages.

It is also claimed that this new app will not be integrated with the existing Facebook Messenger app.

Facebook previously attempted to take on Snapchat with the launch of a service called Poke in December 2012, however the app failed to gain ground over rivals and was eventually pulled last week.