Who created Snapchat?

Snapchat was created way back in July 2011 as an iOS application only and was named Picaboo. The creators of Snapchat are Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. They are all students at Stanford University. Snapchat was first developed as a prototype in one of Spiegel’s class at Stanford.

The unique idea behind this app is that the images shared by Snapchat users will be available for viewing by their friends but the images will disappear in 24 hours. After the Picaboo app was launched in July 2011, two months later, the app was later renamed Snapchat. So, the real answer to when was Snapchat created was on September 2011 due to the change of name from Picaboo to Snapchat on that time.

Snapchat User Base

Snapchat application have attracted the younger generation or the millennials as a user. The Snapchat has certain complex function that might cause older generation a bit of a learning curve. However, the millennials generation quickly adapt to the Snapchat function and usability.

Only on October 2013, Snapchat introduced the “My Story” feature. It is a feature where you can compile snaps based on a 24 hours timeline to all of your friends before it disappears. The concept of Snapchat having the function of disappearing images and videos once it is shared are due to the objective of creating a different unique proposition to a social media platform.

This unique feature is different compared to other Social Media and Instant Messaging platform out there in the market. The reason is to capture the market of social media users who do not like the fact that anything personal information shared will forever be online.

The things they share in social media platform cannot be deleted from the internet once it was shared. The need of these social media users to post silly stuff but need not worry of the long term implication of their silly posting is being met by the Snapchat application.

Snapchat Unique Advantage

Social media users no longer need to worry to check and clean their social media profile whenever they got a job interview. This also allows the social media users to be bolder and not withholding their post and updates as they know that it will only be in their “My Story” feed in just 24 hours only.

The only disadvantage of this feature is that you would not be able to recollect any save memories from your Snapchat. But probably being in the millennials generation with so much information overload, this might be a good thing to have.

Competition

Other social media platform has started to respond to the competition brought by Snapchat. Instagram have recently introduced Instagram Stories. It is a feature in resemblance of the “My Story” function as in Snapchat. Based on Variety.com, Snapchat users primarily use this application for communicating with friends and less in using other function of Snapchat such as Discover, Live or following celebrities in Snapchat.