Snapchat's influence on current social media culture probably doesn't probably even register for those who have never used the app. So for those who don't know what Snapchat is, Snapchat is a multimedia messaging application that's logo is a ghost because images are only available for less than 10-seconds before disappearing forever! Looking back, I'm not sure why this idea appealed to me so much as a teen, maybe it was the filters and the ability to show people what I was doing at all times to make them jealous or show them how cool I was, you know, teen stuff. It's creation was like a smartphone superdrug: everyone had it, everyone wanted it and everyone talked about it, even mainstream media. Though it's creation resulted in some unsavoury issues like revenge porn and nude leaks, Snapchat has always bounced back as a fun and creative way to stay in touch with friends and fans. After it's launch in 2011, Snapchat was a communication phenomenon and a social media innovator. For all the kids who never experienced early cell phone technology, pre-snapchat photo messaging consisted of either Skype or sending MMS (Multimedia messaging service) over text message or, later on, Facebook. It even used to cost extra to send pictures and videos! I shake my head when I think about the beginnings of cellphones (like how internet used to cost an arm and a leg and you'd pray it didn't show up on your bill when you accidentally hit the internet button in your menu). The quality of the media sent was garbage and you couldn't do any of the fun cute things that Snapchat allowed you to do! AR filters, geotags, stories, writing on images, stickers! Believe it or not, Snapchat started them all! I remember the dog filter literally broke the internet when it originally came out, and people actually used to get angry when people used them. The only unoriginal thing they seemed to implement were on-demand colour filters from Instagram, which was already a thing on many other platforms.
Later, Instagram let users have private conversations and send images back and forth, and they made it so you could follow your favourite artists and insta-stars and see their stories without having them add you/follow you back. Plainly, Snapchat just can't seem to keep up. When Instagram added gifs and new font to their story add-on's, Snapchat response after with a couple different font options but nothing innovative. The issue comes from the lack of competition, Snapchat doesn't feel the threat of losing users because similar to giants like YouTube, there are no other apps that come close to them. They do small maintenance and very rarely listen to the consumers and still receive great results. So really why would they change anything? Snapchat's daily active users (in the US) is still strong and expanding exponentially, as it reached 68 million daily active users in 2017. Snapchat still remains strong among young kids, where 12-17-year-olds make up 70% of all Snapchatters and every time I see one of my friends younger siblings, they're usually using Snapchat to interact with their friends. So is it dead? Well, Kylie Jenner, "the Queen of Snapchat" seems to think so. And get this! As a result, Snapchat's stocks actually lost 1.3 million dollars in value. Man, the Kardashians have too much influence, but that's for another time. I hadn't even been aware of this tweet when I started writing this article, I searched "Is snapchat dead?" to see what people thought and it popped up. And I think it says something that not just influencers are feeling this decline in Snapchat popularity. I recently was working with a marketing team who wanted to integrate Snapchat as one of their social media outlets, and while working on this I began to realize some issues with the platform. 1. A draw! There's nothing drawing people into the app unless their actively using it already. And nobody can argue that their tabloid section does much to help this. Don't even try. 2. Made for individuals! The app is designed for individuals and doesn't work well for corporate means. One of the reasons other platforms like Instagram do well is it's ability for people to follow brands they like and for brands to promote themselves. So this keeps certain markets out of the app. 3. Lack of Change Besides adding new filters, I don't feel like Snapchat has launched any new changes that topped their original launch. If anything, people are begging for any new changes to be fixed and Snapchat's response is to make their app more like Instagram (Integrated .gifs etc.) Personally, I don't think that Snapchat is dead. I think that it's downfall is going to be it's key demographic. It's main audience use the app to communicate with friends and show off what they're doing but there is no further substance to keep it afloat. So eventually, the teens who use the app now will find themselves asking the same question. The real question is whether Snapchat will continue into the 2020's or whether it'll be one of those things that only 2010's kids remember. But once again, since there is no competition for its young audience to jump to I'm fairly sure that the app will still survive in one way or another, even after Kylie's tweet. And even with the multifaceted Instagram expanding its functionality, it doesn't offer the exact same experience and options that made Snapchat the social media giant that it is, so its threat is essentially minimal. For those who feel like it's dead, it seems that it's not the app's fault, it's stayed the same. It's the changes in our own personal lives and circles. There are still 3 billion Snaps sent daily, so it seems that Snapchat isn't dead but maybe the Snapchat loving younger version of ourselves is. RIP.
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