Despite Snapchat's IPO, it's not just another Silicon Valley tech titan

Social media start-up is following a familiar path, but attitude to tax and reluctance to be 'creepy' set it apart from its peers

Snap, the company formerly known as Snapchat, has finally confirmed it is planning to go public, with an IPO expected sometime in March. If all goes to plan, the company should net somewhere in the realm of $25bn (20bn) from the public offering, shooting it past Twitter in market cap terms and cementing its position as one of the largest social media companies in the world.

But while it sounds like the typical final evolution of a Silicon Valley titan, Snap has deliberately charted a very different route from its most obvious competitors for much of its history.