Snapchat, the photo messaging app service used by 50M mostly teen-agers, has hired Heather Podesta + Partners as its first D.C. lobbying firm.

snapchatThe firm is to educate Congress and policymakers about the operation and practice of the company that rejected a $3B takeover offer from Facebook.

The Jan. 20 Forbes called Snapchat the “greatest existential threat to FB” in the social media space due to its appeal to younger users.

The age of Snapchat’s median user is 18 compared to FB’s 40 year-old customer. Younger people like that Snapchat’s photo postings quickly disappear.

Forbes though headlined its article The Inside World of Snapchat: The World’s Hottest App or a $3B Disappearing Act.”

Podesta, an aide to the late Congressman Bob Matsui and former Senator Bill Bradley, leads the Snapchat team.

Eric Rosen, legislative director to ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner, and Benjamin Klein, alum of Sen. Byron Dorgan’s office, also work the business.