How does Snapchat survive amid competition from Facebook and other products?

Snapchat has been facing pressure from a number of Facebook products, but it has managed to survive. We believe that the core of this is that its product genes are opposite to those of Facebook, returning to the essence of human nature and emphasizing stress-free social interaction . From an idea to an IPO, Silicon Valley Insider reviews Snap's secrets for you.

Anti-Facebook is the foundation

When Snapchat was born, it was branded as “anti-Facebook”.

From a strategic perspective, the anti-Facebook feature prevents Facebook from truly copying Snapchat, and even if it does, it will only copy the surface. Facebook's biggest advantages are its massive user base and real social relationship chains, but these advantages are powerless in the face of Snapchat's attacks.

In terms of product form, while social media such as Facebook "records everything", Snapchat does the opposite and "destroys messages after reading". Snapchat believes you can destroy all your messages — except the ones that are truly important. Not only photos can be automatically destroyed after being viewed, but Snapchat's "Story" circle of friends will also be automatically destroyed after a period of time.

What is even more shocking is that Snapchat’s text chat messages are also self-destructing. After your friend reads a message, it disappears…

From a certain perspective, this seems inhumane, as we cannot check historical records, but this may be a simulation of the real world: there will be no object recording the conversation between two people in a natural environment.

Snapchat's anti-Facebook branding also reflects its deep understanding of its user base. Facebook's authenticity and "record everything" product features, coupled with the large number of real-world relatives, teachers, and friends on Facebook, make a large number of users, especially teenagers, bear enormous social pressure. Everyone needs to carefully maintain their own Timeline and carefully select pictures or content to share, which makes it difficult for users to bear the pressure.

Snapchat, on the other hand, has much less social pressure, and most of the content will be destroyed, so it is a good way to express and vent stress. This also explains why teenagers are turning from Facebook to Snapchat (while also escaping the "clutches" of their parents). The anti-Facebook positioning is a deep understanding of the user base and finding its own "product fit".

In addition, self-destructing messages also get rid of the problem of information overload. You will not see various annoying message prompts like when you open Facebook.

(Celebrities have no idol baggage on Snapchat)

From a certain perspective, Snapchat itself has returned to the essence of social interaction, which is intimate communication between friends and pressure-free self-expression, rather than a dance of self-performance and embellishment.

Snapchat also takes an unconventional approach to its business model . Snachat CEO Spiegel himself is very disgusted with Facebook's programmatic approach of data mining on users, calculating clicks, and optimizing information flows . Instead, he emphasizes fun in advertising, spreads through filters, personalized short videos , and other methods, and focuses on self-dissemination. He has very strict control over the quality of advertising, which is a bit like the routine of traditional media.

(Many media and companies are actively creating content on Snapchat)

Those who learn from me will live, those who imitate me will die

However, if we look back carefully at the development process of Snapchat and Facebook, we will find that Snapchat's path selection has many similarities with Facebook.

Facebook has its roots in Harvard. First, it was designed as a social map consisting of countless personal homepages, where students can upload personal photos and detailed profiles (interests, schools, selected courses, etc.). The application of selected courses is the most popular among students, because everyone can know what classes their friends are taking and when they are taking the classes. They also know where to meet the girls they like. What was the name of the girl who flirted with them in class? Facebook was criticized as a flirting tool when it was first born.

(The early Facebook page, the red words on the far right: I am looking for someone to “play around with”)

Snapchat's "disappearing messages" feature hits the pain points of teenagers, "making everything you don't want others to remember disappear after being seen." Snapchat quickly became the best place for teenagers to release their hormones, and some media even labeled it a "sexting tool".

Tapping into teenage hormones has made both Snapchat and Facebook go viral. In fact, young people are the main force of social interaction and the most communicative group. They will grow into the backbone of the future. Whoever wins the young users will win the future of social products.

(As an old man, sometimes I can no longer understand teenagers on Snapchat)

In addition, the early Facebook interface was very simple. You could not upload any pictures except your own photos, and the operation was very simple. These later became the tone of Zuckerberg's design of Facebook. Early Snapchat was also very simple, with only the function of sending pictures, and even text could not be sent.

Later, Facebook gradually added group applications, added message wall functions to personal pages, and later launched the "News Feed" function. Snapchat also gradually allowed text messaging and the emergence of Moments ("Stroy").

In the early days, great emphasis was placed on tool attributes to meet the core needs of core users, which was also one of the keys to the success of Facebook and Snapchat.

More emphasis on photo social networking

Snapchat is a more powerful photo social tool. For example, before sending a selfie, do girls open WeChat , enter a chat interface, click the "+" sign, click to shoot, and then send more after taking the photo; or do they open a camera app, take the photo, Photoshop it, and then send more on social media?

As Snap's IPO prospectus states, "Snap is a camera company," and Snapchat has always emphasized its photography attributes. For example, every time the app is opened, the camera automatically opens and stays on the shooting interface. Of course, they now have an even more extreme approach, which is to actually make a hardware product - glasses that can take pictures!

(CEO Spiegel personally endorses Snap's glasses)

Snapchat users generally believe that the product is simple and easy to use, and they learn various new features naturally. An American friend of mine said it well: "Facebook is more like a Profile, while Snapchat is more like a Messenger."

Looking back at Snap’s growth history and reviewing its iteration process

In June 2011, Picaboo, the predecessor of Snapchat, was launched. Its initial feature was the widely circulated “read and burn” feature.

As to who came up with the idea of ​​"disappearing messages", one theory is that it was Brown, the third "founder" who was kicked out by Spiegel and Murphy when Snapchat was just established. His casual remark, "I wish the photos I sent to this girl could disappear!" was heard by Spiegel and turned into a priceless entrepreneurial idea.

Left: Brown who was kicked out, middle: Murphy (Snap CTO), right: Spiegel (Snap CEO)

In the following 10 months, their user base reached 100,000. When they were already unable to afford the server costs, Guangxian Capital injected 485,000 yuan in seed round investment in April 2012.

So, the familiar plot occurred. Spiegel dropped out of Stanford University and devoted himself to the operation of Snapchat.

At the end of 2012, Snapchat launched the Android version and the function of sending short videos. At the same time, Facebook created a Snapchat clone, Poke, in an attempt to kill it in the cradle. Here’s a comparison of the two:

(Image from TechCrunch)

They couldn't be more similar! The only difference is that Poke can use location information and can only use Facebook's real name, and can only be used among Facebook friends; while Snapchat does not provide location information, can customize the name, and can also be used with friends in the address book.

In February 2013, the number of Snaps sent out on Snapchat reached 60 million per day. At this time, they received $13.5 million in Series A funding from Benchmark.

In October 2013, Snapchat launched the "Stories" feature, which is a bit like WeChat Moments . The content posted can be seen by all friends, but it can only be kept for one day and will be automatically deleted after 24 hours. Snapchat has always maintained its obsession with "disappearing after reading".

In November of the same year, Zuckerberg proposed to acquire Snapchat for $3 billion, but was rejected by Spiegel. Although there was a leaked video at the time showing that the idea of ​​"disappearing messages" was indeed thought up by Brown, who was fired, and Brown continued to sue Snapchat over this, this did not affect Snapchat's continued financing.

(Text message from Spiegel to Brown)

During this period, Snapchat also began to compete with Instagram. Instagram launched the Direct feature, which means that pictures are no longer just visible to all friends, but can be pushed to certain people individually, which is a bit similar to Snapchat's picture-based chat approach; and in response, Snapchat has also added filters, timestamps, current temperatures and other features to enrich and beautify photos.

In 2014, Snapchat further enhanced its chat function by adding text chat and video chat. They later launched Our Story, which allows users to add Snaps to a Story based on an event. This way, even if they are not friends with each other, as long as they participate in an event at the same time, they can still see the content posted by each other for the event. This is a good user scenario, a bit like the function of WeChat group .

In November of the same year, after cooperating with Square Cash, Snapchat also added the functions of receiving and paying, and then added the function of QR code business cards in early 2015... Listening to this, do you feel that it is "borrowing" from WeChat?

In January 2015, Snapchat launched the “Discover” feature, which provided some companies and organizations with a way to disseminate advertisements, a bit like the WeChat public account . Media such as CNN, ESPN, and National Geographic have begun to use Snapchat to attract fans.

In June 2015, Snapchat's geofilter (filter based on location information) began to focus on advertising. McDonald's becomes first paid advertising client to use Snapchat geofilters Snapchat users can use fun McDonald's-themed filters at more than 14,000 McDonald's locations in the United States. Pokemon Go also uses this advertising method - you can catch special Pokémon in McDonald's stores.

(The one on the far right is the McDonald's theme filter)

Snapchat's acquisitions have also been very successful, helping it to quickly iterate its products. Their QR code recognition and geofilter functions all come from their acquisition projects. In September 2015, they acquired a facial recognition company, Looksery, which enhanced their animated selfie capabilities.

In June 2016, they quietly acquired Seene, a computer vision startup that allows users to take 3D selfies of themselves using their phones.

In July 2016, Snapchat finally launched the "Memories" feature, allowing users to post historical content to Snapchat's "Friends Circle". At this point, Snapchat also begins to allow you to share the past rather than just focus on the present.

In September 2016, Snapchat redefined its brand. In addition to changing the company's name to "Snap", it also launched the camera glasses "Spectacles", which can record the stories in front of you at any time. Spectacles became extremely popular among Snapchat fans, and even Kai-Fu Lee posted pictures of them. The product marked Snap's transition from a social networking company to a camera company and also told a good story for their IPO.

Finally, the inspector wanted to say:

Some attribute Snap's success to Spiegel's vision. Under his leadership, Snapchat launched many creative and excellent product features, which made Facebook and Instagram busy learning from them, and eventually became a top startup. However, there are constant gossips about Spiegel, and many people think he is an ass hole. But which tech giants don’t have some dark history?

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article @Silicon Valley Secret Agent was compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!