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Snapchat is in the middle of an identity crisis
There was a time a year or so ago when, if a friend wanted to send me a meme or a funny selfie, it would be on Snapchat. But I don't remember the last time that happened; at some point Instagram became our go-to messaging app. And apparently I'm not alone: Snapchat lost as many as 3 million daily users in 2018. Meanwhile, Instagram has grown so fast over the past two years that its Stories feature alone is much bigger than Snapchat, with more than 500 million daily users. This has arguably come at Snapchat's expense. But it's not as if Snap isn't looking to turn things around. The company wants to reinvent itself by trying a bunch of different things, like augmented reality shopping, being more open and teaming up with brands such as Nike on AR workshops.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel admits app redesign was 'rushed'
To say that Snap's major redesign wasn't well-received is an understatement. People hated it so much that it slowed down the app's user and revenue growth when it seemed like it was on the rise. In an internal memo obtained by Cheddar, Snap chief Evan Spiegel has admitted that the company rushed the redesign, "solving one problem but creating many others." No, he doesn't regret separating friends' posts from influencers -- he said that the change was necessary for the long-term success of the platform and that by doing so, it "got ahead of the existential crisis faced by many platforms today." What he regrets is not testing the redesign more with a smaller number of the community before rolling it out to everyone.
Snapchat CEO throws shade at Facebook's poor data practices
Snapchat has had a rough time lately, as it faces criticism about its redesign, its slowing user growth, and the fact that Facebook has copied its product several times over by adding Stories to almost all of its products. But CEO Evan Spiegel doesn't seem to be deterred by the Facebook's copycat moves. In one particular jab against the social network still plagued by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Spiegel said "We would really appreciate it if they copied our data protection practices also."
Snap CEO reportedly released redesign despite warnings from designers
Snapchat's major redesign was widely unpopular, contributing to a decline in Snap's growth and, ultimately, another redesign. Now, The Information reports that the design was released despite reservations from Snapchat engineers and a mediocre performance during pre-launch tests. After CEO Evan Spiegel decided he wanted to completely revamp the app's design, he gave the company's engineers a short timeframe in which to complete it and some current and former employees told The Information that the overall goal -- to make the app easier to use, Spiegel said later -- wasn't adequately conveyed to those working on bringing the new design to life.
Snapchat swaps mess for money
Snap Inc. took a major risk when it completely redesigned Snapchat a few months ago -- it's no secret that people don't like change. But after constantly struggling to add new users since going public last February, the company decided it needed to make adjustments in order to attract people and keep others coming back. The solution was to refine the app with an easier-to-use layout and to separate friends' posts from media content. Suddenly Snapchat became a more refined app. It no longer feels like an overwhelming, discombobulated mix of stories from people you know, others you don't and publishers that are trying to get your attention. And based on Snap's Q4 2017 earnings report, the move seems to be paying off.
Snapchat’s redesign separates friends' posts from media content
Snapchat's major redesign is here and it's all about separating your relationships from content. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel wrote on Axios today that Snapchat has always been primarily geared towards conversing with friends and with the new layout, Snapchat will make that even easier. "With the upcoming redesign of Snapchat, we are separating the social from the media, and taking an important step forward towards strengthening our relationships with our friends and our relationships with the media," he wrote.
Snapchat CEO blames rival social networks for fake news
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has decried rival social media firms for propagating fake news and damaging the media industry, saying that the "smart" alternative is, you guessed it, Snapchat. "The personalized newsfeed revolutionized the way people share and consume content," he wrote on Axios. "But let's be honest: this came at a huge cost to facts, our minds and the entire media industry."
Snapchat reportedly has 'hundreds of thousands' of unsold Spectacles
Sure, they were a hot commodity when they first dropped, but almost a year later and Snapchat has "hundreds of thousands" of pairs of Spectacles sitting in Chinese warehouses. The news, via The Information, comes after CEO Evan Spiegel boasted that sales of the video-recording sunglasses had topped 150,000. Apparently execs were so enthused by how popular Spectacles were in their limited run, that the company ordered more and is left holding the bag now that demand has waned.
Snap CEO: Spectacles sales are 'over 150,000 units'
Now that the hype around Snap's Spectacles has died down, there is the question of how many units the company actually sold. In a conversation today at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit, CEO Evan Spiegel revealed that sales of its camera-equipped sunglasses had topped 150,000 -- more than the 100,000 units he claims the company expected and more than the iPod sold in its first year. It's hard to tell if that's spin or a sign that Snap has a real future in hardware, but Spiegel is pushing forward, as he told Walter Isaacson "If you look at the Snapchat camera, layering this expression on top of your experience encourages anyone anywhere to be creative." Of the company's IPO and recently slumping stock price he said: "I think one of the things we've been going through this year is how to communicate the Snap story."
Snap has struggled to gain users since going public
Three months ago, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. filed for its initial public offering, a milestone move for the now six-year-old ephemeral messaging app. In that report, it revealed some key information about its business: 158 million people use its product everyday and it had over $500 million in losses on $400 million in revenue in 2016. Well, it's now time for the company's first ever earnings report as a public company and, uh, it doesn't look too pretty.
What Snap's IPO tells us about Spectacles' future
When Snap Inc. officially filed its IPO last week, we finally got our clearest look yet at its operations. In addition to learning that its co-founders will be donating as many as 13,000,000 shares of their stock to a philanthropic organization the company quietly set up, we also found out just how much Snap paid for its acquisitions of Bitstrips and Vurb.
Snap Inc. officially files for IPO
Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc. has officially filed for its initial public offering Thursday, giving a rare insight into what makes the ephemeral messaging service tick. Although Snap did not lay out the terms of the filing, the Wall Street Journal places the company's value between $20 billion and $25 billion. That would make Snap the biggest IPO since Alibaba hit the market in 2014 and well in excess of the $3 billion it reportedly turned down from Facebook in 2013.
Snapchat CEO posts a grainy video explaining how his app works
Snapchat may be four years old and raking in tons of investment money, but that isn't stopping the messaging service from acting like a basement-based startup from 2007. The company has posted a an extra low-quality (240p!), obviously handheld video where CEO Evan Spiegel explains his app's functionality and popularity using little more than hand-drawn sketches. The lack of production values is frankly baffling (splurge on a camcorder and a tripod, Mr. Spiegel, you've earned it). However, this grainy clip is at least insightful -- you'll find out why Snapchat relies on a swipe-driven interface, why the younger crowd likes the service so much and why the Stories feature is so important. We've reached out to Snapchat to unravel the mystery behind this footage, but it's still worth watching even without the missing context.
Snapchat acknowledges jilted founder, settles legal spat
We've seen the whole "successful startup begets jilted cofounder" thing many times before -- there's Facebook and Eduardo Saverin, Twitter and Noah Glass and (most recently) Snapchat and Reggie Brown. The legal battle that last pair has been embroiled in has finally come to an end, though: a statement released earlier today confirms that both parties have resolved their little spat. And really, what better way to quietly end a year's worth of startup drama than to issue a press release while Apple's going crazy?
