Snapchat left on read as users gravitate toward other sites

Five-hundred-day Snapchat streaks and dog-ear selfies are commonplace among Gen Z and Millennial age groups, and photos taken with Snapchat filters and geotags have even made their way onto other social media platforms like Instagram.

Snapchat’s unique face filters and temporary messages attracted millions of users and resulted in the app’s initial exponential growth in popularity starting in 2011. Users were drawn to the platform’s informal design and personal feel.

Fast forward to 2019. Snapchat is reporting declining engagement as more people turn to sites such as Instagram and Facebook, which now offer many of the same features.

In 2016, some Facebook investors even feared that Snapchat would harm Facebook’s profits by stealing its users. Now, however, many Snapchat investors are afraid that the app will continue on its downward spiral.

Younger generations especially have abandoned Snapchat in favor of Instagram, choosing to post short videos, polls and boomerangs on Instagram Stories, which were introduced in August 2016. Despite initial criticism against Instagram Stories and how they copied Snapchat, the feature now has more than 2.5 times as many users as Snapchat Stories, according to Investor Place.

Furthermore, Snapchat has made many mistakes that decreased its rating and user base.

In February 2018, the app introduced a major redesign that separated content from friends and public figures, making it difficult for users to watch stories from their favorite celebrities. It also moved all personal stories, messages and Snaps to the direct message tab. Many labeled the update a jumbled mess.

In fact, according to The MacRumor, more than 800,000 people signed a Change.org online petition asking Snapchat to revert back to the original design. Unwisely, Snapchat simply responded by saying that the update may take some time to get used to.

In the second quarter of 2018, Snapchat’s daily user count fell by 3 million, from 191 to 188 million. In the third quarter, it lost another 2 million.

Instead of listening to its customers, Snapchat continued to support its redesign, which made the app confusing, disorganized and difficult to use.

This step and failure to listen and adapt to its users wishes killed Snapchat’s forward momentum. Even though it moved users’ stories back to the discover tab in May 2018, Snapchat’s popularity did not recover.

“Snapchat’s declining popularity makes sense,” junior Snapchat user Lauren Hansen said. “The advertisements on Snapchat get muddled with people’s stories and it’s harder to see your friend’s posts.”

Although Snapchat’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2017 debuted at $17, the price fell to a low of $4.82 in December 2019. It rose slightly to $9 in February, but the value is still much lower than investors’ projections.

Instagram, on the other hand, is growing faster than ever. Search Engine Journal reports that in June 2018, 1 billion people actively used the platform, with 500 million checking their accounts every day.

This rise in Instagram can be attributed to new features the app has added in recent years such as personal feeds, direct messaging, Instagram stories, live videos and the suggested posts discover page.

Instagram is easy to use on mobile devices and provides users with a seemingly infinite stream of posts. Users can easily get sucked in due to the variety of content posted daily.

“Instagram has an easier format,” Hansen said. “It’s easier to find people [than on Snapchat] because you can just search for them.”

Instagram’s focus on visual content makes the app enjoyable, and many users seek to create the perfect feed, which they can scroll through to recount memories or see how their preferences and lives have changed over the years.

Snapchat, however, is based on temporary content, so users aren’t inclined to put much effort into posting. Stories disappear after 24 hours and personal messages disappear after the receiver has opened them. While people can choose to save specific chats, many often forget or simply do not want to put effort into tapping on every single text line. Thus many can relate to asking “Wait, what did I say?” upon receiving a reply.

Facebook, for its part, has also continued to display stable growth and holds the record for the largest number of new users per month, according to Target Journal.

Along with images, Facebook posts often include long captions, where users share information, news and opinions. Its immense popularity also generates peer pressure to create and maintain an account for fear of missing out on important content. Facebook also grasped the market early, so newer competitors have difficulty achieving the same user base.

To compete with other social media sites, Snapchat could include more personalized content on the Discover page and introduce more editing tools to create engaging short videos (such as Instagram’s boomerang). It could involve users in the design process and consider their input when altering the app.

In the end, the simplest, most visibly appealing social media site will inherently attract the most users. People want an interactive, creative platform to engage with followers and stalk their favorite accounts. Users also want an app complete with several features that allow them to explore content, post different types of media and privately interact with certain individuals.

The companies that give their users the virtual world that most appeals to their interests will ultimately win in the end.