Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results • Hacker News Board

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#201

Post by nostrademons » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:09 AM UTC

elgenie wrote: post #186

bennesvig wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snap calls itself the friends and family network for a reason. Instagram is a mix of celebrities, influencers, businesses, friends and family.

That's not a particularly good thing from Wall St's perspective. Snap's path to monetization runs through celebrities, influencers and businesses.

Why? Their monetization strategy so far has been brand advertisement interspersed as vertical video ads between Stories. This doesn't require any particular kind of content, only that they can hold your attention for 10 seconds or so while they show you an advertisement.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#202

Post by puranjay » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:16 AM UTC

chollida1 wrote: post #7

Some quick highlights as to why the stock is being punished. > Adjusted Ebitda Loss $188.2M, Est. Loss $176.9M > 1Q Daily Active Users 166M, Est. 168M > 1Q Rev. $149.6M, Est. $158.6M > 1Q Loss/Shr $2.31 I'm guessing the big issue is the miss on Daily active users. This is the same thing that caused the street ot hammer twitter. Rule of thumb for non profitable tech companies.... If you are a company that isn't making…

As someone who never has and likely will never use Snapchat (tried it once, didn't see the value), Snapchat has a major problem that Facebook doesn't: it can't attract older users.

My parents, older relatives...everyone I know is on Facebook or Whatsapp.

But they will never use Snapchat.

Snapchat's users are only going to be younger. This makes them an attractive investment 10 years down the line, but not right now.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#203

Post by puranjay » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:18 AM UTC

atbentley wrote: post #130

thedarkginger wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sluggish user growth probably doesn't look much better when Facebook's overt effort to clone their product seems to be working. Instagram Stories alone already outpaces Snap 200M to 166M. Looks like an uphill battle from here. http://www.thefader.com/2017/04/14/instagram-stories-more-po...

> According to the report, Instagram Stories has more than 200 million users per day, with that number being measured by people updating their story or watching a friend's. I wonder what the number would be if those who only watched stories were excluded. Its also worth considering that Instagram delivers some of their announcements as stories and whether or not people viewing those also count towards the active user…

A side note: I've seen an increasing number of friends on Whatsapp use the 'Status' feature to share pictures (which works like Stories).

It's a very tiny percentage so far - maybe 1-2% of my contacts list - but it is being used.

If this gets to about 10%, Snapchat should be worried. Whatsapp has a massive user base in developing countries.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#204

Post by wtf_is_up » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:23 AM UTC

EGreg wrote: post #137

thedarkginger wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sluggish user growth probably doesn't look much better when Facebook's overt effort to clone their product seems to be working. Instagram Stories alone already outpaces Snap 200M to 166M. Looks like an uphill battle from here. http://www.thefader.com/2017/04/14/instagram-stories-more-po...

Just out of curiosity, what kinds of things can a startup do to avoid being copied and killed out of the gate by Facebook? Poison pill? Patent?

Sell out when they offer you $3bn.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#205

Post by DrJid » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:27 AM UTC

puranjay wrote: post #203

atbentley wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> According to the report, Instagram Stories has more than 200 million users per day, with that number being measured by people updating their story or watching a friend's. I wonder what the number would be if those who only watched stories were excluded. Its also worth considering that Instagram delivers some of their announcements as stories and whether or not people viewing those also count towards the active user…

A side note: I've seen an increasing number of friends on Whatsapp use the 'Status' feature to share pictures (which works like Stories). It's a very tiny percentage so far - maybe 1-2% of my contacts list - but it is being used. If this gets to about 10%, Snapchat should be worried. Whatsapp has a massive user base in developing countries.

Not to forget that for many, many users in emerging markets, the mobile carriers offer free data for WhatsApp. Traveling through Colombia, and I can use WhatsApp status for free over here. SnapChat kills my data.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#206

Post by seattle_spring » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:32 AM UTC

roschdal wrote: post #48

The bubble is bursting.

> The bubble is bursting.

This has got to be the laziest trope that gets brought out every time a tech company loses some money.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#207

Post by maverick_iceman » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:35 AM UTC

monkmartinez wrote: post #86

nikcub wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top 5 companies by market cap in 2007: Petro China, Exxon, GE, China Mobile, Industrian and Commercial Bank of China Top 5 companies by market cap in 2017: Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Berkshire That's a hell of an illusion

The market isn't the economy for starters. Furthermore, you can't talk about the market without talking about the FED, do you want to include that?

Would ~$500B in revenue count as the economy?

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#208

Post by nnd » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:43 AM UTC

imdisappoint wrote: post #41

Tech companies, and startups in particular, are touted as the powerhouses of American innovation and economy. And yet, it seems that the past 5 years of economic activity have been illusory. I expect a similar fate of Uber and Airbnb. Once the dust settles only the staid big co's shall remain.

What's wrong with Uber and Airbnb?

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#209

Post by dang » Thu, May 11, 2017, 4:50 AM UTC

imdisappoint wrote: post #83

chronic940 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still take an Uber to the airport?

I take Uber or Lyft, whichever is cheapest. The ride "sharing" industry is a brilliant innovation, but I seriously doubt it can support Uber's valuation.

Would you please not create bulk accounts to post with here? Throwaways are fine if there's some specific purpose, e.g. something personally sensitive, but we ban users who do it routinely. Hacker News is a community. You don't have to use your real name, of course, but users should have some consistent identity that other users can relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be an entirely different forum.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#210

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 11, 2017, 5:02 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #201

elgenie wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a particularly good thing from Wall St's perspective. Snap's path to monetization runs through celebrities, influencers and businesses.

Why? Their monetization strategy so far has been brand advertisement interspersed as vertical video ads between Stories. This doesn't require any particular kind of content, only that they can hold your attention for 10 seconds or so while they show you an advertisement.

[deleted]