You may have heard about Snapchat, the mobile app that allows users to capture videos and pictures that appear for a maximum of 10 seconds, and then it disappears. This instant messaging app created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown became increasingly popular within a few months of its launch and is now a leading platform for social media. What is more interesting is how Snapchat itself uses social media in its day-to-day functioning. The increase of social media in today’s society has led to an increase in opportunities organization-wide collaboration and sharing information, which is exactly how Snapchat has taken advantage of social media. It ‘s hard to know how businesses will use social media in the future; however, there are a few predictions about how Snapchat will possibly use social media in its next phases of evolution.
Monopoly
Some people believe that Right now, “Snapchat represents the greatest existential threat yet to the Facebook juggernaut,” says J.J. Colao, Founder of HayMaker. The reason being is today’s generation understands how what they post on social media, the good or bad will stay on social media forever and perhaps that is why they enjoy Snapchat so much. What they post on Snapchat will disappear eventually, and they wouldn’t have to worry, to an extent, about what they post publicly being permanent, searchable, copied, or incriminated. However, it is still apparent that Facebook is the front runner of social media. Thus it is likely that in the future, Facebook will have a hand in how companies will use social media. Much as how Google came to dominate online search engines, perhaps Facebook will acquire more platforms, like Snapchat and possible blend them all into an all-in-one social experience.
Individualization
Already on most social media platforms, there is a huge demand for customizability and personalization on their database. Snapchat, like other brands of social media, has given heir customers options of customizability such as Geofilters, on demand, and sponsored Geofiilters, where they offer small pictures that show up over a snap and when Snapchatters are within the location of choice, they’ll be able to select Geofilter and use it to explain where, when, and why they took the snap. Another way Snapchat shows individualization is a sponsored lens, which is an interactive, customizable ad. It’s a graphic that shows up while you are taking a snap of yourself; some prompts you to open your mouth or raise an eyebrow which triggers an animation to occur. This feature as well as adding stories, short videos or pictures to your account that can be viewed all day have also appeared on other social media platforms. It seems that Snapchat is on the forefront of customization and will continue to take customization into account.
Niche Segmentation
Snapchat is an app that allowes users to provide unique experiences with smaller and more focused user base per niche. One can see the high desirability of platforms on the marker with niche specialists. This is a stark contrast to the “monopolisation” scenario of social media in the future. However, it is very much possible that there may be a significant degree of niche segmentation of social media platforms in the future, especially with Snapchat. Snapchat is a perfect platform to provide customers with the ability to send photos and videos with a handful of customization, privately and temporarily, catering to a particular social need.
Streamlining
Lastly, one may notice how social media is starting to integrate into other areas of digital interaction. Snapchat has already begun to integrate features like instant articles, advertisements, and other new features into the platform. For example, the app lets you view Buzzfeed articles and Tastemade recipes without even leaving the app. Eventually, the social media app will become more diverse in services that they offer, slowly turning into a one-stop shop. It is amazing to see how innovative they have become, incorporating other platforms and even strategically changing to their position from strict software to incorporating hardware into the mix by adding a camera to glasses to take pictures without having to reach for your phone.
Lessons for Others
© The Future of Marketing on Snapchat Is Video [Infographic]. Retrieved from Tech.Co on June 26, 2017
There is no conclusive way of knowing what will become of social media in the future but these are possibilities of the development Snapchat will endure. Perhaps Snapchat will develop in one of these directions or several directions, it ‘s hard to say for sure, but companies like Snapchat are going to rethink the way we use social media in our day to day lives.
Organization:
Snapchat
Industry:
Social media platform
Name of Organization Contact:
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Authored by: Huda Mohammed
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