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To that end, Facebook, which owns Instagram, has spent the past year trying to build a photo-messaging app with mass appeal. After its Snapchat clone, Poke, failed to resonate in 2012, it reportedly tried to buy the real thing for $3 billion in November, but Snapchat refused. Instagram Direct, which allows users to send one another private photos, is Facebook's latest play for dominance. "It's worried about people creating a network outside of the social network they're already participating in," says Rick Summer, an analyst at Morningstar. Twitter has also tweaked its interface to allow users to direct-message photos.
Of course, myriad issues remain. For one, as many teens note, it's tough to photo-message about serious subjects--the whole practice, as it is now, lends itself much better to casual conversation. The bigger challenge, however, is a business one: Can this stuff be monetized? Despite receiving $50 million in new funding, Snapchat generates no revenue (though it has floated the idea of "exploding coupons" that last a few seconds). Line, a popular chat app in Japan, generates some--it sells emojis and virtual stickers for messages. But it's clearly a work in progress.
Nonetheless, analysts agree: even if an individual app flames out, photo-messaging will endure. "The motivations are there to share yourself in a symbolic way, in an economical way, in a more in-the-moment way," says Campbell. Or as LeComte, the 15-year-old Snapchatter, puts it, "It's not, like, lazy. But it's easier."