[drusenko]

Clearly some ideas are more easily clone-able than others. It also probably matters how quickly BigCo clones your idea vs how much mindshare and traction you already have.

That being said, Snapchat definitely doesn't have some kind of birthright to make heaps of money off the idea. If there are few barriers to entry and they can't out-execute FB, then they will end up losing, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Maybe the discussion should center more on how inherently dangerous it is to build something on the FB platform vs pursuing other opportunities.

[mikegioia]

You hit the nail on the head here: "Snapchat definitely doesn't have some kind of birthright to make heaps of money off the idea."

This is called "competition". I think what's really telling is that it took facebook less than 2 weeks to roll out.