Over the last few years we have seen impressive IPOs in the social media tech companies. Higher levels of investment normally call for significant intellectual property holdings, however some of the social media companies have not been innovating on the scale you would expect.

When Twitter entered its IPO it only had 9 patents, with 95 filed. It now has 1700 patents, of which 900 were acquired through IBM.
Snapchat are faced with a similar battle with a need to prove its R&D capability. Seeking $22billion in its March IPO, Snapchat only have 46 patents filed, but are investing in the augmented reality sector.
The decision between in house innovation versus acquired patents will determine the longevity and profitability of the social media giants.