22 Feb Snapchat, will it decrease in 2017? Has Instagram won over Snapchat?
The battle lines were drawn last August between Instagram and Snapchat the day Instagram Stories was released. Eerily similar to Snapchat, when Stories first arrived on the scene, a lot of us laughed. We laughed because we all saw it for what it was: a blatant copy of Snapchat’s efforts. Instagram Stories was nothing more than an after-thought. Or was it?
Fast forward 6 months later, and we find Snapchat stories with a reported 15-40% decline in views. Meanwhile Instagram stories’ views are booming, reaching 150M users, quickly catching up to Snapchat’s 161M users.
Yikes, can’t be a good year at Snap Inc. headquarters. But they haven’t given up yet. In addition to very expensive advertising media placements in the form of lenses, geofilters and Snap ads that are full-screen vertical videos, Snapchat is also selling Spectacles.
Spectacles are the brand’s sunglasses that can record and publish solely to the Snapchat platform. They can be all yours for a moderate $129.99. But is that enough to keep millennials and non-millennials entertained by the bouncing ghost?
Instagram Stories’s pre-available follower base from years of growing Instagram as a steady platform is the most appealing feature for brands and users alike. Why grow another userbase when you already have one right there?
For a very handy comparison between the two, E! News put together this chart for you to review:
Pair “Ease of Use” with “Non-Millennial Friendliness,” and you have yourself a whole new reach that Snapchat just did not garner in time. If the user growth numbers indicate anything it’s that Instagram Stories only tend to increase, while Snapchat will continue to decrease as they lose loyal users to Instagram.
Celebrities and influencers alike are also flocking to Instagram, due to their amassed following and visibility for both personal and promotional posts on the platform. And that just might be the straw that breaks the camel’s – or the ghost’s – back.
