Snapchat has been declining in popularity recently, and the company is continuing to lose to Instagram. After steadily expanding its user base, Snapchat is now stagnating, holding the same number of users during Q4. Some celebrities, such as Kylie Jenner, have encouraged their fans to stop using the application. Furthermore, Instagram has been able to soak up a lot of Snapchat’s potential business.
A simple shift in trends and a few disgruntled celebrities don’t complete the whole picture. The recent updates of Snapchat’s user interface have also left many users upset. The redesign of the app failed to give Android users due consideration, while also removing some of the features that made it so popular among young people, such as the app’s complexity. While all of this has been going on, Instagram has been adding features very similar to Snapchat’s, helping push young people to the former.
Of course Snapchat shot itself in the foot with the Android botch, but corporate culture may also be factoring into Snapchat’s current predicament. If Snapchat is going to stay competitive, the company will have to get much sharper in the coming years.
