Snapchat is not dead, it has grown faster than it has been in the past four years

Born in 2011, Snapchat has become one of the most popular social networks, peaking about five years ago. And although its use has declined since then, it’s still in the top 10, according to Statista.

But it seems that 2021 has given a new impetus to the messaging platform, photos and short videos: according to its results report for the second quarter of this year, Snapchat recorded the highest growth in users and income since the end of 2017.

Snap Inc. announced. , the company behind the social network, reported that its daily active users increased 23% year over year, reaching 293 million — surpassing Twitter, which reported 206 million users in the same period — and that its income was up 116% year over year. to $982 million.

“We are increasing both revenue and daily active users at the highest rates we have achieved in the past four years,” said Evan Spiegel, CEO of the company. “We are pleased with the progress our team is making in developing our augmented reality platform, and we are driven by the many opportunities to grow our community and business around the world.”

how did you do it?

During this time, Snapchat focused on aspects such as its camera and augmented reality functionality, display of content, its ecosystem of partners and developers, as well as its ability to drive better results for advertisers.

Here are some recent actions:

• Improvements to Lens Studio 4.0, an AR experience creation app for artists and developers, such as the ability to filter multiple people and a new visual effects editor.
• New categories to scan, including fashion and food, so Snapchat users can scan and select objects. They offer recipes and places to buy some items.
• Launch of Connected Lenses, allowing users in different locations to interact with each other through augmented reality.
• Eight new releases of Snap Originals, including a documentary that follows American musician Swae Lee as he prepares to release an album.
• 177 new international Discover channels, including 36 in the UK and 24 in India, one of which has partnered with Sony Pictures Network to launch five shows.
• Access to Spotlight Web, a space to view their content from any browser even without a Snapchat account, which also allows creators to upload their videos directly from their desktop.
• New monetization opportunities for Spotlight creators by gifting with Snap Tokens, allowing them to forge stronger relationships with their followers.
• Integrate with Disney, Viber, and Bumble to bring Snap Camera and augmented reality capabilities to your apps, plus YouTube and YouTube Music to quickly share videos on these platforms with the Snapchat camera.
• Bitmoji access to games with Unity, as well as the expansion of the catalog of these stickers.
• Layers, a new Snap Map feature that allows snapchat users to find personalized experiences from select partners right on the map, such as nearby restaurants and events.

What’s next for Snap?

Snap expects its revenue to continue to grow, growing more than 50% annually over the next few years, driven by advertising on Snapchat and news in augmented reality. Also thanks to the purchases that originate within its platform through functions such as scanning.

However, it still has a lot of work to do to reach, say, 700 million monthly active users of TikTok.

An analysis by The Motley Fool, a financial and investment advisory firm, highlights Snap remains unprofitable, but “if these positive trends continue, it could finally turn into a profit” within five years.

“Snap’s plans look promising, but they still face unexpected headwinds,” he adds. It concludes, “Recent changes to data privacy on iOS and Android could impact their ad revenue, their debt levels continue to rise, and TikTok’s expansion could threaten both Snapchat and Instagram.”

Snapchat opens office in Mexico City