Snapchat or Instagram?
You’re probably familiar with both, but statistics are showing that Instagram is beating Snapchat in the popularity contest.
In November, Snap Inc. – Snapchat’s parent company – reported it had reached 178 million daily active users. Facebook-owned Instagram and Whatsapp, on the other hand, boasted 300 million daily users for their Stories features alone.
Not great news for Generation Z’s favourite app.
In addition to Instagram and Whatsapp’s higher rates of user usage, Snapchat has also reported less-than-stellar third-quarter earnings. Its stock value has dropped and user growth is down (again). And while it may remain popular amongst the 12 to 24-year-old demographic, the future of Snapchat remains uncertain.
No wonder Snapchat founder and CEO, Evan Spiegel, is keen to shake things up with a revamp.And here’s how he’s doing it…
A redesign of the app is reported to roll out on Monday, Dec. 5.
At present Snapchat’s Stories are sorted by upload time, with users viewing newest to oldest Snap Stories in that order. But come December, Snapchat will implement an algorithm into its design and will start presenting users with Stories that are most relevant to their interests. Spiegel claims this one of many new features that will help to make the app more user-friendly.
If it sounds like Snapchat is taking a page out of Facebook’s playbook, you’re absolutely right. Users can expect to see their Snap feed organised in a similar manner.
But will this be enough to increase users, growth and stock prices? Guess we will have to wait until the new year to see . . .