Snapchat has raced to the top of the photo-sharing hill and captured the imagination of the valuable teen market. Snapchat creates a brand new way to communicate with friends that is fun and interactive while creating a sense of privacy through the disappearing nature of the content.
2. Snapchat was founded on September 16, 2011 by
Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. In an age of
permanence, timelines, and revenge posts,
Snapchat created a way for teens to share photos
freely.
3. The Need For Snapchat?
Snapchat creates a brand new way to communicate with friends that is fun and
interactive while creating a sense of privacy through the disappearing nature of the
content.
Snapchat allows users to send photos and videos to one or many friends, while
limiting how long the recipients can see them. The maximum time is 10 seconds, just
enough for the recipients to enjoy the moment before it is lost forever.
4. To help foster the sense of privacy and security, Snapchat includes a
built-in alert which notifies the sender if any of the recipients took a
screenshot of the photo.
In addition to photos and videos, Snapchat lets users express their
creativity by adding text and drawing on the photos. This allows the
user to create all types of goofy images and fun things that add to the
experience.
It also has some more subtle, but equally important benefits:
disappearing photos mean less digital clutter, and saving memory on
phones.
5. Early Traction
The founders first spread the word about Snapchat to college friends at
Stanford University, but the app’s popularity didn’t really start to take
off until it made its way into the high school ranks to become a popular
means of communication for teenagers.
It gave young teens an opportunity to exchange messages quickly and
left no evidence for the rest of the world.
6. With Snapchat’s traction in early 2012, they attracted the attention of
mainstream press including the New York Times, TechCrunch and other
press started to cover them too.
By the time the New York Times wrote about Snapchat, it was in the
top 5 photo-sharing apps, and it hasn’t looked back. Snapchat has not
only been one of the top downloads for photo and video app but has
consistently been one of the top overall apps downloaded in the App
Store.
7. The Growth engines of Snapchat
Word of Mouth
1.
Compare Snapchat’s mobile-first experience to other social networks that started
as an experience in front of your computer connecting virtually with friends.
Snapchat is much more likely to be used in a real-world social situation.
Snapchat’s growth with not only their peers but also with their parents. In fact, as
kids moved to Snapchat, parents quickly followed, as the service became a way for
teens to communicate with their parents. Most users are in the 13-25 age group, and
a second, much smaller but growing, group 40 and older.
8. 2. Strong User Engagement
Snapchat messages arrive as little gifts packed with intrigue. We don’t know what’s
inside, and we’re anxious to see what it is. We also know the message will disappear
quickly, so we focus on it, giving the message our undivided attention. The content
rarely disappoints, and it fuels a curiosity and delight that is a powerful motivator.
Snapchat lets you send Snaps to multiple people at once, creating a social
experience around the images and video. And being available on iOS means that
Snapchat can be used by people without smartphones to stay in the loop with
their devices .
9. 3.Expansion into New Addressable Markets
All of Snapchat’s early growth was among US-based Apple iOS users, press
mentions state that 80% of users were US-based. This left the Android
market unserved and prime for new growth. 48.5% of smartphone users
were on Android devices in 2012. Not surprisingly Snapchat’s launch of
their Android version in October 2012 unleashed a new wave of press
coverage and buzz—all driving further growth.
10. Conclusion
The virality that comes with its powerful word of mouth growth engine,
increasingly strong user engagement, and ability to tap into new markets will
continue to be powerful drivers of growth for Snapchat.
Snapchat generated $2.5 billion in revenue in 2020, a 47 percent increase
year-on-year.
Snapchat stock value has increased by over 350 percent from 2020 to
2021
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