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Takes three paragraphs to get to the answer: Instagram stories. Snapschat is busy trying to remain relevant as Instagram one-ups it again and again. Other than

Takes three paragraphs to get to the answer: Instagram stories. Snapschat is busy trying to remain relevant as Instagram one-ups it again and again. Other than teenagers using it to sext, Snapchat is largely useless compared to Insta.

jandrese 8y ago
Certainly their core business model of teens sexting is still strong?
- partiallypro 8y ago
  Hard to monetize that without going against the grain of also being a family platform.
  - Rjevski 8y ago
    Does everything need to be a family platform? A bit of an extreme example, but the adult entertainment industry seems to do fine without catering to families - I don't see why Snapchat couldn't do the same?
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      It's about the audience. Snapchat advertisers don't want to be associated with adult content. Adult entertainers are catering to their paying audience.
      - Rjevski 8y ago
        My point wasn’t to turn Snapchat into an adult entertainment site. It was simply to accept and embrace its fate as a sexting tool. Dating apps are also used for this purpose (frankly their whole purpose is to find people you’d eventually fuck with) and yet they are a socially acceptable thing to use and advertisers don’t have any problems with them, so I don’t see why it would be any different for Snapchat.
        toomuchtodo 8y ago
        I agree it would work if Snap has a sub brand tailored towards sexting, where ad buyers could segment between Snap and a more avant-garde experience.
sevensor 8y ago
Seems like the bigger theme in the article is that the company is being run by a child. Edit: I should perhaps expand on this. TFA repeatedly mentions Spiegel's tender age and his inexperience, and it points out that one of his core management techniques is a thing he picked up in prep school.
- brootstrap 8y ago
  Yeah those meetings they mentioned (council meetings), sounds like the worst meeting i've ever had at my company, but 10 times as cheesey and 'make me want to kill myself'y.
- newswriter99 8y ago
  Not that it matters but I just burned through a couple of bios about him and wow, for a 28-year-old he looks 40. The stress of executive leadership I suppose . . .
bduerst 8y ago
Google+ tried to copy facebook functionality too, right? While instagram already has the users, I think the point is that you can build it, but you can't make people use it. Instagram can prevent existing users from leaving snapchat for 'stories', but will it really entice snapchat users to come over to instagram, given that social networks are a function of people who use it?
- josephjrobison 8y ago
  Instagram Stories daily active users is 400 million. [1] Snapchat dau is 188 million. Given that this declined from 191 million from Q1 2018, seems Instagram is crushing them. Anecdotally I’m surprised Snapchat is even doing this well. Before Instagram Stories I had probably 50 people a day posting new Snapchat stories. Now it’s a handful a week. They’re all on Instagram. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/730315/instagram-stories-dau/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/730315/instagram-stories... [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/545967/snapchat-app-dau/#0 https://www.statista.com/statistics/545967/snapchat-app-dau/...
  - bduerst 8y ago
    1.5% QoQ decrease in DAUs is hardly being crushed, especially when they have a 45% YoY increase in revenue [1]. See? I can google and cherry pick stats from statista too. My point point about social being a two-sided market still stands regardless of your personal experience. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/552694/snapchat-quarterly-revenue/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/552694/snapchat-quarterl...
hart_russell 8y ago
That's quite a statement. I'm an active snapchat user, because the user interface is very streamlined. There's no cruft from over 24 hours ago on the platform.
dorkwood 8y ago
To me they’re entirely different products. I use Snapchat to send funny things I see to specific friends who will find them funny. I can’t do that on Instagram without broadcasting that same message to over 100 people.
- kevinschumacher 8y ago
  Instagram actually cloned snapchat in its app. You can send direct messages now. Photos, videos, filters, drawing, text, emoji, everything. Photo and videos can be sent to be viewed once/replayed (like snapchat), or persisted in the chat log.
joshvm 8y ago
Disagree. Currently helping run a summer camp with lots of < 18 year olds where we try to limit phone usage in group sessions. Snapchat is used for everything, probably sexting too, but as far as I can tell it's the goto instant messaging. When they're on their phones during sessions, they're all snapping each other. Insta is also ubiquitous - aside from following people, lots of them use it to discover smaller/niche bands (eg grime), for example. Facebook? Really uncool. Their parents are on Facebook. Big component of these apps is the group dynamic. Plays well with the current culture of social capital, messages can be easily broadcast, rated, commented on, shared around. But you also have the option of things being semi-ephemeral.
- lazzlazzlazz 8y ago
  I used to see that among the <18 crowd, but Snapchat has evaporated weirdly quickly. I'm only hearing about Insta and a long tail of other apps. Lots and lots of conventional texting/iMessage.
grillvogel 8y ago
I'm in my 30s and most of my friends use snapchat for instant messaging, that is the primary purpose of snapchat.

jandrese 8y ago

Certainly their core business model of teens sexting is still strong?

partiallypro 8y ago
Hard to monetize that without going against the grain of also being a family platform.
- Rjevski 8y ago
  Does everything need to be a family platform? A bit of an extreme example, but the adult entertainment industry seems to do fine without catering to families - I don't see why Snapchat couldn't do the same?
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    It's about the audience. Snapchat advertisers don't want to be associated with adult content. Adult entertainers are catering to their paying audience.
    - Rjevski 8y ago
      My point wasn’t to turn Snapchat into an adult entertainment site. It was simply to accept and embrace its fate as a sexting tool. Dating apps are also used for this purpose (frankly their whole purpose is to find people you’d eventually fuck with) and yet they are a socially acceptable thing to use and advertisers don’t have any problems with them, so I don’t see why it would be any different for Snapchat.
      - toomuchtodo 8y ago
        I agree it would work if Snap has a sub brand tailored towards sexting, where ad buyers could segment between Snap and a more avant-garde experience.

sevensor 8y ago

Seems like the bigger theme in the article is that the company is being run by a child. Edit: I should perhaps expand on this. TFA repeatedly mentions Spiegel's tender age and his inexperience, and it points out that one of his core management techniques is a thing he picked up in prep school.

brootstrap 8y ago
Yeah those meetings they mentioned (council meetings), sounds like the worst meeting i've ever had at my company, but 10 times as cheesey and 'make me want to kill myself'y.
newswriter99 8y ago
Not that it matters but I just burned through a couple of bios about him and wow, for a 28-year-old he looks 40. The stress of executive leadership I suppose . . .

bduerst 8y ago

Google+ tried to copy facebook functionality too, right? While instagram already has the users, I think the point is that you can build it, but you can't make people use it. Instagram can prevent existing users from leaving snapchat for 'stories', but will it really entice snapchat users to come over to instagram, given that social networks are a function of people who use it?

josephjrobison 8y ago
Instagram Stories daily active users is 400 million. [1] Snapchat dau is 188 million. Given that this declined from 191 million from Q1 2018, seems Instagram is crushing them. Anecdotally I’m surprised Snapchat is even doing this well. Before Instagram Stories I had probably 50 people a day posting new Snapchat stories. Now it’s a handful a week. They’re all on Instagram. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/730315/instagram-stories-dau/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/730315/instagram-stories... [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/545967/snapchat-app-dau/#0 https://www.statista.com/statistics/545967/snapchat-app-dau/...
- bduerst 8y ago
  1.5% QoQ decrease in DAUs is hardly being crushed, especially when they have a 45% YoY increase in revenue [1]. See? I can google and cherry pick stats from statista too. My point point about social being a two-sided market still stands regardless of your personal experience. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/552694/snapchat-quarterly-revenue/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/552694/snapchat-quarterl...

hart_russell 8y ago

That's quite a statement. I'm an active snapchat user, because the user interface is very streamlined. There's no cruft from over 24 hours ago on the platform.

dorkwood 8y ago

To me they’re entirely different products. I use Snapchat to send funny things I see to specific friends who will find them funny. I can’t do that on Instagram without broadcasting that same message to over 100 people.

kevinschumacher 8y ago
Instagram actually cloned snapchat in its app. You can send direct messages now. Photos, videos, filters, drawing, text, emoji, everything. Photo and videos can be sent to be viewed once/replayed (like snapchat), or persisted in the chat log.

joshvm 8y ago

Disagree. Currently helping run a summer camp with lots of < 18 year olds where we try to limit phone usage in group sessions. Snapchat is used for everything, probably sexting too, but as far as I can tell it's the goto instant messaging. When they're on their phones during sessions, they're all snapping each other. Insta is also ubiquitous - aside from following people, lots of them use it to discover smaller/niche bands (eg grime), for example. Facebook? Really uncool. Their parents are on Facebook. Big component of these apps is the group dynamic. Plays well with the current culture of social capital, messages can be easily broadcast, rated, commented on, shared around. But you also have the option of things being semi-ephemeral.

lazzlazzlazz 8y ago
I used to see that among the <18 crowd, but Snapchat has evaporated weirdly quickly. I'm only hearing about Insta and a long tail of other apps. Lots and lots of conventional texting/iMessage.

grillvogel 8y ago

I'm in my 30s and most of my friends use snapchat for instant messaging, that is the primary purpose of snapchat.