Snapchat is a photo messaging application set up by Californians Evan Spiegel and Robert (Bobby) Murphy. Using the application, users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. These sent photographs and videos are known as “snaps” and ‘disappear’ after a prescribed time.

This dynamic photo application turns three years old this September and it is still to register a profit or provide ad space for commercial enterprises but it boasts the notoriety of being known as the company that turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg.

This info-graphic by dpfoc.com charts the short history so far of Snapchat as a way to mark its third birthday. It looks at the background to set-up, the controversies along the way, the numbers involved and examines who actually owns the company.