Why Snapchat Will Face the Same Fate as Myspace Soon Enough

Snapchat was the new and exciting way to communicate, right from the start. The fast paced functionality of Snapchat was something that was worth the buzz and it set itself up to inevitably go head to head with the heavy hitters, Facebook and Instagram.

With the recent Snapchat update and a bunch of Instagram ones, people are wondering, will Snapchat survive? It’s possible, but not likely. And this is because of Instagram (and Facebook).

History repeats itself, even in the Digital World

Let’s go back in time for a moment. It may be silly to compare the two, but Snapchat is basically suffering the same fate as our old friend, Myspace. Yes, I went there.

Besides listing Tom as one of your Top 8 friends, Myspace once was the go-to platform to connect with your friends, share photos, answer bulletin type questionnaires, discover music, chose a profile page song and so much more.

Myspace was also the platform that made us all feel like crazy talented designers, as we all went in and customized our own layouts - something that I know we all secretly miss doing.

But then Facebook came along and just like that, Myspace was yesterday’s news. Liking things and sharing things became more personal than commenting. As time went on, Facebook rolled out Messenger, Instagram, Business Pages, Paid Ads, Stories, Games/Apps, etc.

If that wasn’t enough, the stock market is picking up on Snapchat’s decline

Facebook and Instagram dominance. After the world became aware of Instagram’s lead over Snapchat in daily usage, Snapchat’s share price decreased to an all-time low at around $12.67 (Source).

Instagram will help your audience remember you, while Snapchat will not

For both Snapchat and Instagram, in order to send something out, you need an image or video. But there are major differences between the two, the most prominent being the Instagram Profile/Feed.

Pairing strong visuals with strategic copy will increase the likelihood of important information being retained, which is why Instagram is doing so well compared to other applications.

Yes, through Snapchat you can share photos or video with a purpose, but they’ll disappear after a few seconds or hours, based on if you send it or story it. Snapchat allows you to directly send snaps to people (singular or in group) and upload content for your entire friend list to see through the Stories function.

Whatever you upload on Instagram will be posted to your news feed immediately afterwards and will be displayed on your profile page feed (unless you decide to delete it eventually).

Whether you’re a business, influencer or just using Instagram on a personal account, you can create a memorable story with your feed if you take time to plan and develop it the right way.

By using specific filters, incorporating grids and posting similar styled photos, the possibilities are endless.

Instagram has 4x the potential reach than Facebook

Even though Snapchat has a large amount of active monthly users at 300 million, Instagram has almost triple the amount, which is over 800 million.

Understanding that difference is critical. These numbers indicate that Instagram has a significantly bigger chance of reaching and engaging new people.

Instagram allows users to reach their current and new users in four very different ways:

1. Profile/Feed
2. Stories
3. Live
4. Explore

On Snapchat, you need to know or search for a person’s username to add and follow them, or you have to scan someone's barcode when you’re with them - there is no .

Instagram’s Explore function specifically gives users a chance to be found and connect. By utilizing specific hashtags and location tagging your profile can be found in the Explore section (if it’s not private) based on a users specific likes, follows and curation. It’s organic and it’s authentic.

Businesses and Influencers are using Instagram over Snapchat

Because Instagram is all for building a long-term presence, businesses and brand influencers (including celebrities) are gravitating towards it vs. Snapchat. Some big brands and celebrities are on Snapchat, but the app has been known to be more of a real-time, quicker paced place where friends share silly photos and videos and many businesses are not taking it seriously.

One of Snapchat’s big mottos is treating everyone the same, so there’s no indication if someone is famous or not on there, as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook note if an account is verified, show the number of followers and treat the accounts differently (with certain features such as swiping up on Instagram if you have over a certain amount of followers or shopping “the look” within the app).

You can also use links in Instagram, which you cannot do on Snapchat, by linking in the bio and using that as force to drive people to your profile page (and potentially follow you if they haven’t and explore your page).

On top of that, Instagram accounts can connect to their Facebook pages, which provides CTAs such as email, call or directions to people who are viewing your Instagram profile.

With great ideas, comes imitation and newer technologies

Facebook did this to Myspace and now Instagram and Facebook are doing that to Snapchat. Between Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram, they have taken Snapchat’s original story/clip idea and made it more interactive, attractive and advanced by adding different fonts, colors and filters, tagging and hashtagging options, interactive polls, stickers, boomerangs and other video features.

When Instagram first did this, Snapchat incorporated another fan favorite app, Bitmoji, into their stickers and conversation sections.

However, Snapchat kept trying to get the upper hand by integrating stories into the notifications and message section next to the users name and taking the stories section to the right out, replacing it with just news/bigger celebrity and brand things that no one really pays attention to. And the one thing that I loved about Snapchat's stories feature over Instagram's was the vertical layout of going down the list of your friends' stories vs. Instagram's horizontal.

Unfortunately, many users are upset by this and have either deactivated their accounts or researched loopholes to get their old setup back. Since this update, they’ve also added cool font and color features.

Instagram took it even further. By giving users the options to “go live,” Instagram gave themselves a way to influence the world with permanent posts, temporary stories, and real-time footage (once you get off live it’s gone). And by incorporating the Instagram Direct Message Feature, the application basically found a way to go head to head with Snapchat’s private messaging.

What's in the cards for Snapchat? Continue reading to view my opinion for what comes next for the company, here.

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-Alexandra Venier