For those of you who are unaware of what snapchat is and what it does, you’ll find yourself saying “I wish I thought of that!” immediately after you understand. It made so much sense to me when someone suggested I start using an app which allows me to send pictures to my friends, but they can only see it for a time-length of my choosing where afterwards it would disappear forever never to resurface (unless someone screen-shotted). Essentially, Snapchat is an app available on iOS and Android platforms which allows user to send pictures they take themselves with drawing and text to their friends who also use the app. The catch is that the picture then disappears after x number of seconds: where x is a number between 1 and 10 chosen by the sender. The app serves to respond to the need for younger technology socialites to maintain a continuous connection with their friends through the rich communication channel of visual imagery yet simultaneously access a certain freedom of communication that comes from removing the permanency of internet communication. It’s all good fun, but what recently caught my eye was current news being reported on Snapchat’s business. The Wall Street Journal  recently reported that Snapchat had turned down a $3 billion USD offer from Facebook. Despite being in operation for only just over 2 years (initial release Sept. 2011), Snapchat has grown from a simple social media app into a massively high-evaluated business. But does that mean they’re a massive business? No. The more I use Snapchat the more I begin to understand that they really are operating on a non-existent revenue stream. The app doesn’t cost anything, and it has no ads. It’s absolutely perfect for users because they pay virtually nothing to use Snapchat, but I can’t help but wonder how the business side of the company can be worth 3 billion USD and have no clear revenue stream. Snapchat has been operating on a 65 million dollar initial investment and has therefore been able to maintain themselves with the absence of a revenue stream, but in terms of sustainability it doesn’t get worse. I think they should’ve sold out and taken the $3 billion. Facebook has money and a need to better access their younger demographic. Snapchat has nowhere to go but where they are if they continue to simply be an app and not a business.