Facebook is still the dominant social media service, and has been an attractive suitor for many start-ups. And Snapchat most likely spurned Facebook partly because it thought it could fetch much more than the billions Facebook was willing to pay.

But the snub also foreshadows a possible future where Facebook is no longer the default place on the web where people go to network. 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 rebuff also reveals a changing perception of Facebook in the tech industry. As the once scrappy start-up evolves into a sprawling corporation, younger companies who view themselves as disruptive 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.