The invention of Snapchat, a picture/video messaging platform that deletes your messages forever after they are opened, hit the market in 2011 and quickly became a household name. People were instantly hooked on the idea of sending photos with short captions that would only last for a maximum of 10 seconds, and within a short amount of time, it became the newest "texting" app for young people. Today, Snapchat has over 218 million daily users, so what techniques exactly did Snapchat use that made it so successful to this point?
For one, Snapchat creators listen to their users. When many early adopters picked up Snapchat, myself included, we were seeing many changes often to the platform. They added video features, rolled out some filters, and included geotags. Some updates were useful and exciting, while others made the app extremely confusing and difficult to use. What Snapchat did when they received outcries of terrible feedback was reverting back to different versions of the app while trying to figure out the best way to move forward. For this reason, many people felt a sense of reliance towards the platform, knowing that the users are heard and respected.
Snapchat has had many years of impenetrable success, as well as times that we all thought it would crash. These failures were mostly due to poor changes on the app, but they have always managed to bounce back. It is safe to say now that Snapchat has survived through its maturation, truly becoming one of the few staple apps on millions of people's phones. It is both interesting and exciting to see what updates Snapchat will make in 2020 and how the app will change even over the next 5 years.
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