Snapchat's Gamble Update

The new Snapchat update has seen massive backlash from users of the app. An article on PR news claims there is one petition which has had 1.2 million people sign asking them to revert the update back to the previous version. The update was a major redesign to the way that the app runs. The Snap stories are now in the same place as the chat section and the place where the stories used to be located is now all sponsored news stories. The article on PR news says Snapchat still chose to roll out the update in the United States after it had received terrible reviews in beta testing in the U.K., Australia and Canada. Currently on the Apple App Store the app is receiving 1.8 out of five starts. The process of re-watching a friends Snapchat Story is one of the main issues that has users of the app in uproar.

As the PR news article points out, the update was not necessarily tailored toward everyday users, but toward the brands who have stuck with Snapchat through the years. The update now offers analytics for brands that are apart of Snapchat's Official Stories. Snapchat also appears to be working on an E-commerce platform where different brands will be able to sell through the app itself. Finally, Snapchat is working on a new way to allow more brands to create Ad's to be used on the app. These features do not seem to be put in place to improve the users experience but it is to continue to make money.

I am not sure that putting the brands first on the priority list of the user is the best move Snapchat could make. If the users of the app are upset they may not want to use the app anymore and then the focus on the brands will not have been helpful. If Snapchat starts to lose users the brands are not going to get as many views and they are not going to want to use Snapchat as a platform they will use to advertise. As an everyday user of the app I agree with the majority of users on the fact that this update was not a good update for the users. Currently I still use the app but I have slowly started to use it less often than in the past and if Snapchat continues to put the brands ahead of the users I think they will be signing their own death warrant and will lose a lot of their everyday users.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the Snapchat update. Do you think that Snapchat will reverse their update due to the pressure from their users? Will Snapchat putting a priority on the brands over the users be helpful or hurtful to the app? The way that Snapchat responds to the users of the app may have an affect on the future growth or death of the app.