Snapchat Just Nabbed An Important Advertising Exec Away From Facebook

Emily White, Director of Business Operations at InstagramEmily White

Snapchat has scored a major coupe in its efforts to figure out how to make money. Emily White, the executive who was leading Facebook's Instagram advertising program is leaving to become COO of Snapchat, reports AllThingsD's Kara Swisher.

White told Swisher:

"It happened really quickly, but to have an actual COO role in one of many companies that is disrupting the communications arena is one I could not pass up," she said. "I have always been captivated by the creativity that has gone into the product … and I think that [CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel] has been looking for someone who can help him grow and scale what is already something that has changed a lot of the way people think about the mobile experience."

Snapchat also confirmed the news to Swisher.

White took the Instagram job in April. Prior to that, she worked on Facebook's mobile partnerships and she was at Google before that.

This is a blow to Facebook. Instagram only recently began its ad program. The first ad appeared on November 1 and was crowned a huge success.

As COO, White will have a broader role at Snapchat, helping it figure out how to build a revenue stream when it doesn't collect a lot of data on its users, and it deletes the content they create. Sources say that Snapchat does plan to sell advertising and use other methods, like selling virtual goods. Figuring this out will be a big part of White's new job.

Snapchat seems determined to do so. It reportedly rejected an all-cash $3 billion takeover offer from Facebook.