Snapchat boss deletes all his tweets

Mr Spiegel released a video saying Snapchat was about instant expression

Snapchat chief executive Evan Spiegel has deleted every tweet he has ever written, as part of his latest push to help publicise the mobile app that wipes posts after a few seconds.

"He likes to live in the present," Snapchat told the Wall Street Journal.

And he was attempting to show that "ephemeral media" had a powerful role to play in modern communications.

Mr Spiegel also launched a low-quality YouTube video to explain with paper and pen how his social network worked.

He said: "It is all to do with the way that photographs have changed.

"It used to be that photographs were about saving memories.

"Today, pictures are being used for talking.

"That is why people are taking and sending so many pictures on Snapchat every day.

"It is about instant expression - showing people who you are in the moment."

Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy also deleted his entire tweet history.

Enders Analysis consultant Ian Maude said: "Increasingly, Mr Spiegel has to communicate with the world through his own platform."

He said: "You don't see [Facebook's] Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg tweeting much."

Snapchat has proved hugely popular, especially with the under-25s, since its 2011 launch.

Vodafone recently revealed 75% of the instant-messaging traffic on its UK network was down to the mobile app.

In January, it launched Discover, in which a series of publishers, including CNN and the Daily Mail, were invited to repackage news to Snapchat users.

"Snapchat is now hiring its own team of journalists," said Mr Maude.

"It is becoming a content-distribution platform."