Latest social media pheonomenon Snapchat valued at $800 mn

Starting as a design project at Stanford University design project barely two years ago, Snapchat, the photo-sharing app which allows users to send images that ''self-destruct'' within 10 seconds, is foraying into following Facebook trajectory after its valuation shot to $800 million (£517 million).

The service offered by Evan Spiegel, 22 and Bobby Murphy, 24, the latest kids on the social media block, is intentionally fleeting.

Smartphone users send photos or video clips to friends which disappear within 10 seconds or less after being viewed, and supposedly get deleted from servers.

The service was launched in 2011 and was quickly embraced by teenagers who saw the app, a fun way to communicate, without leaving a trail of personal information. Over 200 million images are ''snapped'' globally daily, up from the 60 million in February.

The app's ''hyper-growth'' rate is seen to parallel the early growth of Twitter and Instagram, with users moving beyond the temptation to send sexually explicit images to carefully selected targets.

Meanwhile, the entrepreneurs behind the app are getting some heavy backing from investors, even as the start-up has not yet come out with a demonstrable profitable business plan.

Snapchat notched $60 million in its latest round of funding from Institutional Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners and SV Angel. Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Corp US and Sony Pictures Entertainment, is set to join its board.

Meanwhile, according to co-founder and CEO Spiegel who spoke to TechCrunch, the first phase of the monetisation strategy would involve in-app transactions.

He added, the company was already playing with hidden features and experimenting to see what worked best.

In-app transactions would come first, according to Spiegel. He added, they thought they could build really cool stuff people wanted to pay for. He added, the app was now a part of everyone's day-to-day lives, which meant that they would pay for a more unique experience.

Without going into much detail, he clarified that the team ''has not considered'' letting users pay to save snaps.