Snapchat is one of the most successful social media app. With Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram and Twitter in the same boat, we are looking at strong competition. Against such an impressive pack of competitors, the unusual social media service, managed to reach number three, according to the latest stats.

Last month around 700 million photo messages and 500 million stories have been circulated through Snapchat, Dazeinfo states, so it might be a good time to introduce the Snapchat Discovery Service. In an increasingly controlled digital world, Snapchat seems like a breath of fresh air for anyone looking to send snaps of their lives without worrying about future uses of their data. Half of the Snapchaters are 18 to 24 years old. The age-group is somewhat attractive to some brands, be it brands wanting to form a future faithful clientele or the ones which count on present monetization.

Audi undertook a successful Snapchat campaign recently, while other companies such as Burger King, started using the service as well to deliver promotional content.

Snapchat Discovery service will be introduced to start monetizing the growing user base

Snapchat was evaluated at $860 million in July 2013. A year later Snapchat worth $10 billion. Facebook offered to buy the company for $3 billion in 2013, but Snapchat chose to go on its own way. The bold move proved to be successful so far. In the meantime Facebook decided to take a shot and introduce a similar service called Slingshot. Unfortunately for Facebook, user comments on Play Store are not very favorable so far.

The social media company plans to offer a new service which will help advertisers deliver content to Snapchaters. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Snapchat Discovery will be deployed soon. The service will insert advertisement material to users.

Snapchat Stories allows a similar action, but there is a difference between the two services. While users must actively seek the Stories, Snapchat Discovery will allow advertisers to reach users directly, Cnet states.

The social media company seeks to gain revenue out of its growing user base. Will the presence of ads deter users from engaging with Snapchat? Primarily, it will depend on how intrusive the ad placement will be. Snapchat counts on a less complex user interaction than Facebook. How successful will the Snapchat Discovery service be if users do not invest the same amount of effort as they do on Facebook?