[btilly]

First it is a truism that every startup starts in a small subset of the market that they will eventually occupy. When Facebook was fighting MySpace, they didn't compete in MySpace's core market. They focused on college campuses. And then expanded. So you would expect to see any new competitor do the same.

Second, the "buy competitors" approach only works as long as competitors are willing to sell. Eventually one won't. Don't forget that Facebook tried to buy Snapchat for $3B in 2013, and failed. Based on emails leaked last year in the Sony fiasco, if they can beat Facebook, they will. And they believe that they have a chance. And if they fail, they won't be the last competitor.

But we'll all get to see what the future holds. You have a theory. I have a theory. Read http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-ceo-evan-spiegel-has... for the theory that Snapchat's CEO has. Eventually one of us will be proven right.