The company said it was testing the feature in some international markets, including France. It's not certain when Cameo will reach the masses, but Snap said to expect a worldwide release "soon."

This could help Snapchat in multiple ways. It's an alternative to Bitmoji for those who think avatars are too cutesy. It also gives Snapchat a way to stand out among social networks and messaging services at the same time, and might give it a source of revenue if it charges for third-party Cameo clips. At least, up until Facebook copies the feature.