Snapchat stock is on track to hit an all-time low since November 2017, made even worse by a recent tweet by Kylie Jenner. The tweet said: “sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad.”
This is in reference to Snapchat’s latest update. This update changed the location for stories and created a friends page to see your friends' snaps, chats and group chats. Many people find this update confusing and difficult to use. Fixing these problems is Snapchat’s best option for recovery.
Aja Romano, a writer for Vox, suggests it probably wasn’t Jenner plummeting the stock by herself, and Snapchat has been floundering for a long time.
In August 2017, Facebook, who also owns Instagram, was predicted to put Snapchat out of business. These issues were only exacerbated by the extreme user dissatisfaction with the new update.
There are a lot of reasons the update is so widely disliked. The biggest change is incoming snapchats and friends’ stories have been condensed to the same page, without clear chronological order.
Other issues include changing the method for actually sending a snap, and the fact the “Discover” page now has sponsored content instead of stories.
Snapchat has recently also updated features in sending snapchats, including adding GIFs and different fonts to snaps. These are both features Instagram already has on its “stories” feature. Snapchat seems to be trying to cater to Instagram’s large user base.
In November, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel issued a statement, “We are currently redesigning our application to make it easier to use. There is a strong likelihood that the redesign of our application will be disruptive to our business in the short term, and we don’t yet know how the behaviour of our community will change when they begin to use our updated application.”
Snapchat was expecting users may respond negatively to the update, and at the same time hopeful that the update would be successful in the long run.
There is no way to determine this looking at the current fall of its stock, but as with all applications and websites, users tend to grow accustomed to updates after a while of using them.
Perhaps what caused Snapchat to lose so much money with this update is its integral place in current pop culture. Seventy-five percent of American teenagers use Snapchat, according to a study by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Celebrities also use Snapchat, including those with huge followings like Kylie Jenner. Even if it is not entirely her fault that the stock is falling, it is impossible to ignore her Snapchat presence.
Jenner claims she is the most followed person on Snapchat, with more than 9 million followers viewing her Snapchat stories. She is no doubt an influencer, and if she decides she no longer wants to use Snapchat, there is a chance many of her followers would follow suit.
The biggest issue Snapchat is currently facing is user backlash and dissatisfaction, whether from celebrities or not.
The best option for them to fix their current drop in stock is to revert to their previous interface or at least work to solve the problems their users are complaining about.
