Social networking company Bebo has relaunched, transforming itself into a messaging app that uses hashtags to trigger animations, drawings, games and other features and heavily incorporates avatars.

The company first hinted at a relaunch in February 2014, with the release of a free video chat app called Blab, but it is the unveiling of Bebo, its over-the-top messaging app which is drawing most interest.

The app enables users to create an avatar, customising hairstyles, facial features, clothing, accessories and more. Then, during chats with friends, certain hashtags will trigger images and animations; for example, typing #slap in a chat will result in an image of your avatar slapping your friends avatar.

Bebo appear to have gone well beyond the usual array of emoticons with their hashtag feature, including images for such varied tags as #datenightwithnetflix, #hairflip and #allthesingleladies. Certain hashtags also launch pop-out applications, enabling you to send songs, add drawings or locations to messages, or even flip a coin using the app.

Once the most popular social networking site in the UK, the company saw a drastic drop in users as people migrated to Facebook and Twitter. In 2008, the site boasted 10.7m unique users, and was purchased by AOL for $850m (£544m), but just five years later, founder Michael Birch was able to buy the company back for only $1m.