While iMessage may be the primary form of communication for most smartphone users, younger folk tend to employ Snapchat as their main form of communication with peers.
Key Details
- For younger Gen Z or Zoomer users, Snapchat has mostly replaced texting when communicating with friends.
- Snap, which has lost nearly $100 billion in value in two years, may be trying to capitalize on the popularity of the messaging option on its app, The Future Party reports.
- The disappearing messages on Snapchat give users a feeling of security when messaging friends and may just be the key to saving the struggling social-media company.
Why it’s news
Compared to its social-media peers, Snapchat has struggled to stay relevant. The app first became popular for its disappearing video message feature. Users record a video and send it to their friends. Once the video has been watched, it is gone forever. Users can set the video to replay a certain number of times or play just once.
Snapchat’s direct-messaging feature works similarly. After the recipient has read a sender’s message, it disappears unless one of the users saves it. Both users are notified when a message is saved or screenshotted.
Younger users seem to like the security that the disappearing messages give them. Unlike iMessage, no one can review their Snapchat chat history and look at past conversations. Users tend to use iMessage when communicating with family, but Snapchat is their go-to communication method when talking to friends, The Future Party reports.
In addition to the security of disappearing messages, Snapchat offers users other security perks. They can only receive messages from approved friends, greatly reducing the likelihood of spam. Users can also more easily verify the identity of the person they are talking to, and users can add up to 100 people in a group chat as opposed to the 32-people limit on iMessage.
If Snapchat can keep these younger users on the app, it could signal hope for the struggling company. So far, it seems to be working. Users 16 to 25 tend to use Snapchat as a direct-messaging app, but Snap VP of Product Jack Brody now says that half of its users are over 25.