I don't know if I quite see snapchat like that.

Yeah there is the whole sexting angle but setting that aside for a moment, I think about all the social networks out there where nobody communicates with their connections authentically because they are so worried about all the different audiences reacting to every little missive. Maybe Snapchat's value as a brand is that it is not just temporal, but trusted by virtue of the mechanics. Sexting is probably just a small fraction of the traffic, -in most cases it's a communications tool that let's you connect with people, say what you need to say and move on without having to think about repercussions. It's just mentally easy, even if what you're saying is mundane. Heck, due to employers increasingly stalking people's social graphs, it's probably preferable for some people to use snapchat for something as innocuous as asking a friend to meet up for a beer.

That being said, wtf were they thinking. 3 billion. Sort of feels like a gamble to bait a higher price from a Facebook competitor. So many messaging apps out there could just implement this feature.