If you’re in your 20s, chances are you are quite familiar with the Snapchat icon. The friendly white ghost on a perky yellow background pops against a myriad of other social media apps. But if you’re not a millennial, it’s possible that your experience and understanding of this app is limited. With over 100 million daily active users, Snapchat is not a force to be ignored in the social world – but is tapping into this millennial-focused world of momentary content something marketers should consider? I have a theory – but first let’s first answer the question: What IS Snapchat?

In its most basic form, Snapchat allows a user to take and send a picture or video and control how long it is visible by the person who receives it, up to 10 seconds. After those 10 seconds, the photo disappears. Relatively young in the age of Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat was created in 2011 by a couple of Stanford dropouts (seeing a trend here?) and started to raise tech buzz in 2012 when a reporter from the New York Times painted the disappearing photos app as tool for teenagers who are up to no good… a revolutionary idea in an era when just about anything could end up on the Internet. Little did they know, it was about to become one of the fastest growing social messaging apps on the market. A recent Comscore report found that Snapchat was the third most popular social app among 18-34 year olds (behind Facebook and Instagram, but ahead of Twitter, Pinterest, and Vine).

In fall 2013, the app unveiled its own take on the “newsfeed,” called “Snapchat Stories” which came with a $3 billion offer from Mark Zuckerberg (which the founders promptly turned down). That’s when big brands started to take notice of the app as a content marketing tool. The difference in marketing on Snapchat vs. Facebook or Twitter is the “one-on-one” opportunity vs. the “one-to-many.”

For many marketers, the chances of reaching a younger audience through the app is understandably enticing. Taco Bell, McDonalds, Wet Seal and other big brands hopped on board early, creating real-time stories and luring users to follow them with promises of coupon codes and special promotions. Now the Discover page on the app is full of curated, Snapchat-specific content that huge brands like Buzzfeed, Food Network, and ESPN pay seriously big bucks for.

So, you’re probably thinking… Should I create a Snapchat account for my brand or company? Well, it’s not a simple yes or no answer. You may want to consider creating and maintaining your own personal Snapchat account first. We’ll expand on why and how next week – stay tuned!