When everything clever is bound to blow up on the web, it’s highly likely that most of what you see everyday is something everyone else and their granny has seen too. Even online, as with precious stones and exotic sports cars, rarity can be the ultimate luxury. BlinkLink, a novel site by self-styled hacker and Thiel Fellow, Clay Allsopp, imposes rarity upon media which could otherwise be reproduced ad infinitum. Images uploaded to the site self-destruct after a set number of views and cannot be saved, making for a digital limited edition that is fully immune to Pinterest and Reddit. Just think: an exclusive shot of Grumpy Cat could be gone for good in two seconds flat.

Alongside BlinkLink, we’re seeing a definite trend towards ephemeral media with apps like Rando, and the now stalwart SnapChat and its myriad imitators. Media over-saturation seems to be making us happy to give up a bit of content in favour of some genuine exclusivity.