Snapchat may change its USP of disappearing snaps, make them permanent

The company is also looking at an option to reveal the identities of Snapchat users who make public posts.
Snapchat may change its USP of disappearing snaps, make them permanent
Snapchat may change its USP of disappearing snaps, make them permanent
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What made Snapchat different from other social media apps was its disappearing snaps. But the social media platform is now planning to alter its basic policy with regard to retaining the photos and videos on its site both on the regular site as well as on the “Our Story” section.

This plan has not been confirmed by Snapchat officially, but this is based on a report in Reuters. The report states that Snapchat is looking to make the photos and videos last longer, or even permanent.  The changes are seen as a huge departure for Snapchat and its users. It is learnt that the data that will be put to public viewing will only be of those members who have agreed to have their photos or stories shared.

However, for Snapchat, its USP has always been that snaps disappeared either in 24 hours when put as a story or in a few seconds and changing this may trigger backlash, especially from its younger userbase.

These moves are part of the commercial considerations Snapchat has had to enter following its financial situation deteriorating, which has also caused many executives to leave the company.

The first set of partnerships is with the news-based organisations such as News Whip. These news portals could pick up stories from Snapchat and then publish them as breaking news on their respective platforms. It is said more such partnerships involving sharing of data with third party sources with revenue building as the sole objective are expected to be concluded in 2019 as well. These new business entities would want the photos on Snapchat to remain there and not disappear. This appears to be one reason for this move.

Besides bolstering its own revenue through such partnerships Snapchat has to worry about competition as well, like Twitter. Analysts point out that in the news space at least, Snapchat has an edge over its rivals Twitter and Facebook due to its ability to offer more video footage against mostly texts by the other two. From that perspective Snapchat stands to gain more revenue.

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