Future of Snapchat (Will it Evolve or Die?)

Is Snapchat going to be the next big thing? Or will it die as the competition for social media attention intense? This is probably is a hundred billion dollar question. One thing for sure, the social media is here to stay. Social media is the evolution of the internet. Facebook has managed to be the face of this evolution and therefore have benefited tremendously from this shift.

SNAPCHAT HISTORY

Snapchat was created way back in July 2011 and was originally named Picaboo. The app was developed by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown when they are students at Stanford University. It started off as a prototype for one of Spiegel’s class. The main idea behind it is to have a disappearing post on the social media platform.

The notion of whatever you post stays permanent on the internet is being challenged by the new format introduced by Snapchat or Picaboo at that time. That’s why they have a ghost as their logo. The word Picaboo also relates to term normally related to Ghost. In this case, your post is like a ghost, where it can appear and disappear afterwards. The Picaboo app was launched in July 2011 and was renamed to Snapchat two months later after the launching.

SNAPCHAT DEMOGRAPHICS

When Snapchat was first introduced to the market, it is competing with already matured social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Therefore, Snapchat has to offer something different from the rest. However, Snapchat also was created right at the beginning of the high-speed internet.

With high-speed internet, videos are much easier to share across the internet. This is where Snapchat’s unique proposition is. It focused on video sharing and added with filters and special effects. This attracts the millennials very quickly. Compare to previous generation where, posting video updates to the public is something not very common, the millennials adapted to Snapchat instantly.

SNAPCHAT SHARING TO SNAPCHAT LIVING

Social media users will be evolving from using the social media platform for sharing to utilizing it for their living. This involves from shopping, education as well as connecting with friends or co-workers for work or recreational purposes. The live streaming made popular by Periscope and later implemented by Facebook is only the beginning of people streaming their entire daily life into the social media platform. Just imagine, you can see somebody’s life on a 24-hour basis. And this not bound to any geographical location.

Your parents might be a thousand miles away, but with social media, you can see what they are up to by just looking at their live stream. The infrastructure to support that connection is already in place. Snapchat have already moved towards this as it has introduced the Snap Map features. It will be a matter of time where Snapchat users will live stream their status and people can all around the world view it by browsing the Snap map. Read here on how you can use Snapchat Map.

SNAPCHAT GLOBAL ID

If the internet has given us access to vast information across the world, the social media in another hand will give you access to various people across the world. Social media is made of various people in the world. Facebook, for instance, have 2 billion monthly active people using it.

This is more than a population of certain countries. But imagine shortly, with augmented reality embedded in the social media, you can see random people that you meet but with a brief description of themselves augmented besides them. That will cut through the unnecessary introduction and ice-breaking moment. Snapchat can utilize their Snapcode or Snap ID and enhance it even further using Augmented reality. Read here on how you can create your very own Snapcode.

SNAPCHAT COLLABORATION

As Snapchat improve more of its features, it is a matter of time Snapchat will enhance it to make it more of a collaborative tool. This enhancement has recently been introduced whereby users can now post a collaborative stories of a certain event. The original user who posted a story can invite people to share their status into a global snapchat story. In the future, Snapchat probably will introduce more features to get Snapchat to interact and collaborate. Read here on how you can create your very own Snapchat group stories and collaborate with other users.

SNAPCHAT AS CONTENT PROVIDER

Facebook has already started this strategy in which they want to create their original content. Following the footsteps of Netflix, Facebook Watch is the platform for Facebook to distribute their original content. Snapchat has the platform and capability to do just the same.

It is just a matter of time Snapchat will expand itself to become more of a media platform. This will open more opportunity for Snapchat users to distribute their content to a wider audience. This also bodes well for businesses who want to market using the Snapchat platform.

So, there you have it. The possible future of Snapchat and what they can offer shortly. However, please bear in mind that this is just a personal opinion of the writer based on current trends and scenario planning. Please leave a comment below on what do you think the future holds for Snapchat.