This Inc. article (and the quoted NYT article) describes the initial scene very well. It started as a friends and family word-of-mouth viral loop that got into

This Inc. article (and the quoted NYT article) describes the initial scene very well. It started as a friends and family word-of-mouth viral loop that got into one particular SoCal high school of a founder's cousin and then quickly propagated to other SoCal high schools big time (3,000 to 30,000 DAU in a month) as a way for passing notes. They hired a community manager after they hit a critical mass. http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/real-origins-of-snapchat-growth.html http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/real-origins-of-snapcha...