Author: Ludovica
Everyone knows Snapchat, but not everyone knows that it was created in a dorm room back in 2011, by three university students. They are Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown.
When the app was launched, they first called it Picaboo. The concept was both simple and revolutionary: a platform where users could send photos that would disappear after a few seconds. This way, people could share moments without the fear of permanence of that content on the web.
1. The Rise of Snapchat: A Social Media Innovator
In September 2011, the name was changed to Snapchat, and the app became rapidly known among teenagers and young adults. Videos and photos sent through the app were called “Snaps”, and they disappeared right after being viewed.
This unique characteristic clearly encouraged a more authentic and spontaneous interaction among the users, differentiating it from the other platforms in vogue, whose contents were permanent.
Two years later, the app gained significant popularity thanks to a completely new feature. In fact, in 2013, the creators introduced Stories, contents that lasted on the user profile just for 24 hours… Familiar, right?
People were enthusiastic, and from what we can see now, the idea of Stories was innovative and paved the way for all the social media platforms coming in the years.
In August 2014, Snapchat launched Geofilters, location-based overlays that users could add to their content to create themed Snaps. They were available depending on the areas and public events, in which the users turned on the location settings.
By August 2014, 40% of adults in the US were using Snapchat regularly, and by next January, the app hit 75 million users.
In the years, the efforts to acquire Snapchat from other societies were many. Mark Zuckerberg tried at least twice to buy the rights to the app, and Google also made an attempt, but the creators never accepted; Snapchat’s pioneering potential was too large.
2. The Onslaught of Competition and Struggles with Innovation
Snapchat’s decline started around 2018, when a major redesign was highly criticized, alienating both users and celebrities. Around the same time, Instagram and TikTok gained a strong following, replicating and improving upon Snapchat’s key features, like Stories and AR filters.
The app also struggled with monetization, privacy concerns, and failure to attract older demographics. All this together led to a slowed growth and a declining engagement.
Gen Z started to move away from Snapchat, finding shelter in the rivals Instagram and TikTok, which offered more engaging content, better discovery algorithms, and stronger social networking features.
Snapchat’s loss of innovation, the frequent but trivial redesigns, and a clumsy user experience contributed to the moving of young people towards trendier realities. In addition to that, short-form video content became more popular than disappearing pics and messages, making TikTok the GOAT among entertainment and self-expression platforms.
3. What Snapchat Can Do to Regain Its Popularity
Snapchat lost ground because of its rivalry; nevertheless, there are some strategies it could adopt for regaining its users and popularity.
Surely, it has to introduce new features in order to distinguish itself from the competitors, such as advanced AR tools and improvements to AI personalization possibilities.
Furthermore, a more user-friendly design and fewer sudden changes to the interfaces may enhance people’s commitment to the app.
A good idea could also be to involve influencers. Collaborating with content creators will attract new users on the platform and, at the same time, will keep the already existing ones active. A strategy may be offering them incentives for the production of exclusive contents.
Another way to differentiate itself from the most used platforms is to provide transparency. Because of the growing concerns about data safety, making the app’s privacy policy clearer, could create a better reputation and consequently more trustworthiness for Snapchat’s name.
Conclusion
Snapchat’s decline was driven by a combination of unrelenting competition and innovation challenges, unpopular redesigns, and lack of appeal to a wider audience.
However, a return is still possible if it can differentiate itself with new technologies and improve the user experience.
Looking ahead, social media will continue to evolve towards more immersive experiences, with increased use of augmented reality, AI-based personalization, and metaverse integration.
The key to any platform will be adaptability to new generations and changing needs.
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