The video chat app that should scare the hell out of Facebook and Snapchat

It's rare that a small startup is able to challenge the likes of Facebook and Snapchat in a meaningful way.

But Houseparty, a teen-centric video chat app is managing to do just that. One year since launching publicly (the company spent several months in a stealthy beta), Houseparty has grown to 20 million users who together have participated in more than half a billion video calls (or "parties," to use the app's terminology).

Twenty million may sound like a drop in the bucket compared to Facebook's billions or even Snapchat's 166 million users. But the video chat app, created by the same team who founded the once-hyped live streaming app Meerkat, is beating its bigger rivals in one important way: engagement. Read more...