The news media is abuzz about the confident if not brazen move by Snapchat – telling Facebook (News - Alert) thanks but no thanks to a close to $3 billion takeover offer. And there is a rumor out there that Google (News - Alert) offered to buy the startup for $4 billion – which it also flat-out rejected.

Snapchat believes it deserves more money in any offer. Also, Evan Spiegel, the 23-year-old CEO (reminiscent of the young Mark Zuckerberg (News - Alert)), will not even “consider an acquisition or an investment at least until early next year,” The Wall Street Journal reported citing anonymous sources.

Where is the source of this confidence? Here is one important figure that may help to explain the attitude. Snapchat users send 400 million photos and videos daily. Not only has that number doubled since June, it puts the company as a top player in the sector. (Another report from Buzzfeed says Snapchat users get 400 million photos per day.)

For contrast, Facebook users share 350 million photos a day. It’s true that Snapchat includes videos in its number, and Facebook doesn’t, and the Facebook number doesn’t include the 55 million photos shared to Instagram (owned by Facebook).

“Even so, photo sharing on Snapchat is clearly growing at a fast pace and may blow past Facebook soon enough, making Snapchat that much more valuable to Facebook or another competitor,” Mashable reported.

It is also important that Snapchat is “popular among teenagers and young adults, who use the app to send messages to friends,” The Journal reported.

Now, look at Facebook. It may not hold the popularity with the younger audience it once had.

“What Snapchat has is explosive growth with the teenagers that are already sick of Facebook. Snapchat is sexy and subversive. It's cool. It's everything Facebook isn't,” Yahoo reported.

Also, the Pew (News - Alert) Internet and American Life Project recently reported that many Facebook users decided to take a break from Facebook “citing the tedium and irrelevancy of its content. Among the crucial younger demographic — users ages 18 to 29 — that first propelled Facebook into prominence, 38 percent said they expected to spend less time using the site this year,” The New York Times said.

Even if Facebook is in a strong position now among social media sites, the future is not as clear. That may be indicative of why a company such as Snapchat chose to show reluctance to any current takeover offer.

“The snub … foreshadows a possible future where Facebook is no longer the default place on the web where people go to network,” The New York Times reported. “The swift rise of upstarts like Snapchat in a shifting social media landscape suggests a change in how and where people like to spend their time.”

The Times also explains that Facebook is now a “sprawling corporation” and startups “do not find Facebook’s size and cushy campus as appealing. Not to mention that a lot of them are trying to provide alternatives to Facebook, which means selling to Facebook would defeat their entire purpose.”

Facebook appears aware of the perception problem and at a recent meeting with mobile developers Facebook encouraged them “to incorporate the company’s new social features into their products, which would help it spread its tendrils,” The Times reported. “Facebook also pushed them to incorporate tools from Parse, a start-up it acquired.”

It’s clear that Snapchat says no to prominent companies – also to drive up the value of its own company. The question is how long that approach will be able to continue. Either the ploy will be successful as the value of the company skyrockets into the billions, or the young audience will soon get bored and search for a new social media toy. Time will tell if the gamble was a wise move. As of now, media reports say Snapchat has no revenue.