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Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

investor.snap.com

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Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#261

Post by pm90 »

corobo wrote: post #245
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...

> Facebook's overt effort to clone their product I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else absolutely hates this new stories thing Facebook is pinching from Snapchat. Every damn time I pull down (Messenger on iOS) to reload the conversation list I end up at the damn camera. That's not how literally every other app works. Now Facebook (iOS app) has updated and it feels like whenever I accidentally drag my thumb slig…

YES! So much this! I want Instagram to be the social network of superb images/very short videos. I just HATE that now there's an extra tab at the top for stories and such. Why ruin an app that was doing its job so fucking well?

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#262

Post by pwthornton »

pm90 wrote: post #260
pwthornton wrote: post #258

People keep mentioning that Facebook is taking their (few) features, but it's more than that. Snapchat has always had garbage UX, and for awhile people tried to claim this was a feature because it kept the olds off of Snapchat. But Facebook takes user experience very seriously (hence why it is so huge), and even though Facebook does so many more things than Snapchat, it's easy to use. My retirement-age Mom uses Faceb…

Nah, their UX is fine. You and I (and your grandmother, incidentally) are not the target demographic. BTW is the UX really that confusing? Sure its not 100% intuitive but after playing around with it I was able to operate it fine.

I'm am an (older) millennial, so I should be in their target demo, and I lead a UX team that builds enterprise SaaS products. I also head up our user research efforts that include user testing.

I'm saying that in my professional opinion, Snapchat's user experience is not good. And if you guys want to start a Go Fund Me over this, I'll bring in real users and run tests on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my working hypothesis.

If someone may age is already out of the core demo, how did Snap have that valuation? Teens and college kids are just not that valuable of a market.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#263

Post by icelancer »

rhizome wrote: post #194
pm90 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snapchat and Instagram definitely offer in somewhat similar spaces. All the semi-famous people I follow on instagram have their snapchat username right there in the profile.

I'm sure a lot of them use Buffer or something to multipost.

Instagram is resilient to multipost apps like Buffer on purpose. Snapchat obviously is as well.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#264

Post by pm90 »

abritinthebay wrote: post #223
nostrademons wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And their monitization strategy so far has led to larger losses than expected, less revenue per user, and slower user growth. It might make for a better user experience but that's not good for a free service

Good point but I think the solution is not to gut their good user experience, but to figure out better monetization strategies. Because better user experience is about the only thing keeping them in the Game.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#265

Post by pm90 »

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.

I really really really hope this does not happen. I already don't like how much data WhatsApp eats after downloading shared images and such. I want WhatsApp to be text and group text and thats IT.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#266

Post by pm90 »

majani wrote: post #158
EGreg wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I'll indulge. When Facebook seriously have you in their sights, financially, the smart move is what Snap did: rush for IPO before your numbers start getting affected. Product-wise it appears that if Facebook make a billion dollar offer, accepting it is a wise choice to maximise usage growth and interaction.

At this point though, simply as a consumer, I would have appreciated Snap being acquired by FB so that FB wouldn't bastardize all the other social networks to try and emulate Snap. But looking long term, I think this might be a good thing... just in the short term it really sucks.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#267

Post by abritinthebay »

pm90 wrote: post #264
abritinthebay wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And their monitization strategy so far has led to larger losses than expected, less revenue per user, and slower user growth. It might make for a better user experience but that's not good for a free service

Good point but I think the solution is not to gut their good user experience, but to figure out better monetization strategies. Because better user experience is about the only thing keeping them in the Game.

Well yes, they would likely keep their current one while expanding into new areas.

I'd argue though the only thing keeping them in the game is network effects and fighting that fight vs IG is... going to be challenging.

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#268

Post by pm90 »

traviswingo wrote: post #247
wtf_is_up wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sell out when they offer you $3bn.

Seriously, though. I never understood why Groupon, Snap, etc. turn down these multi-billion dollar acquisition offers. It's not like these products/services have a huge impact on the world (if they were to disappear, who would really care?), take the money and run.

Well, if Google had sold to Yahoo, or FB again to Yahoo....

Re: Snap Inc. Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

#269

Post by CodeSheikh »

Plenty of Snapchat users (the ones who created the hype) are no longer teenagers. They are moving away from Snapchat to more concrete (perceived adult-ish) platforms like Instagram or not use them at all. Snapchat failed to evolve their product. I mean seriously do we really need those creepy glasses to record whomever you want?
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