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Snapchat is still a platform mainly used for messaging, despite the company’s release of new features in 2017 and efforts to drive usage to other parts of the app, according to The Daily Beast.
The publication unearthed daily user metrics, which are not publicly disclosed by the company, for nearly every feature of Snapchat.
The data, which spans from April to September 2017, pertains to Snap Map, Discover, and Stories. Snap Map allows users to share their location with others and also discover popular snaps from certain areas around the world. Discover is the section of the app that displays the app’s TV-like shows and publisher content.
The data indicates that Snapchat users prefer messaging over posting to Stories and browsing through other content:
- Users sent snaps to each other more often than they posted Stories. As of late September, roughly 83 million unique users sent snaps daily, while under 50 million daily unique users posted a story in the same period. In comparison, Instagram’sStories feature was used by 300 million users each day as of November 2017. This could explain why Snapchat is reportedly developing a feature called “Stories Everywhere,” which will make Stories available on platforms outside the app.
- Snap Map has yet to gain widespread adoption among Snapchat users. An average of 19 million users, 11% of Snapchat’s DAUs, checked Snap Map daily in September. Moreover, the usage of Snap Map has trended downward since the feature’s launch in June 2017. Declining Snap Map usage is problematic for any aspirations by Snapchat to turn the feature into a local business discovery platform to rival companies like Yelp.
- A majority of Snapchat users don’t check publishers' Discover Edition daily. An average 20% of users consumed a publisher’s Discover Edition — publishers’ digital magazines on the app — on a daily basis. Additionally, consumption of publishers' Discover Editions peaked in July 2017, at 38 million daily users, which represents 21% of Snapchat’s 178 million daily user base. Low Discover engagement could cause publishers to allocate fewer resources to developing Discover content.
Meanwhile, Snapchat is banking on its major app redesign to encourage engagement with features like Stories. In November, the company unveiled the redesign of its app, which separates publisher content from friends' photos and videos. The company made this adjustment because keeping professionally produced publisher content and users' Stories in the same area has caused some users to feel like they have to perform for their friends, rather than just express themselves, according to the company. The redesign could eliminate feelings of having to compete with publisher content, encouraging users to post more Stories.
Laurie Beaver, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the battle for the smartphone camera that:
- Describes how smartphone cameras are being leveraged by chat apps.
- Explains the how brands and businesses can take advantage of cameras on messaging apps.
- Highlights the differences between certain messaging apps and their strengths and weaknesses.
- Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the adoption and use of chat apps’ cameras.
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