If anyone had predicted a self-destructing photo-sharing app would become so popular there is doubt anyone would believe it! Let alone that three kids fresh out of university would go on to make a billion dollar app. However, they did and now Snapchat is one of the most downloaded apps in the world.
Snapchat had humble beginnings starting off when Evan Spiegel’s friend Reggie Brown mused about how he wished for some pictures he had been sending a girl to just disappear. This set Spiegel’s gears turning and he came up with a concept of self-deleting photos.
However not everyone agreed with Spiegel and many of his classmates, in fact, doubted this idea. Although he was not met with confidence in his idea, Spiegel’s tenacity continued, he refused to give up. He went on to get a coder named, Bobby Murphy who went on to write all the code for the app.
After the app changed its name from Pictaboo to Snapchat in 2011, it experienced exponential growth and high school kids downloaded the app in the millions.
Snapchat has had incredible growth in its short 5 years as a social media platform. In spring 2013 Snapchat had a 60 million snap volume per day this more than doubled in May 2013 to an astronomical 150 million snap volume per day!
By 2012 the company was then valued at $4.25 million. Today Snapchat is valued around $25 billion.
Snapchat also found incredible success with its use of filters. Snapchat started incorporating built-in facial recognition filters, geo filters and the use of custom filters, which were received well by users. Many businesses also started to use custom filters, which, became available to Snapchat users when on location.
Snapchat has done amazingly in such a competitive industry! It is continuously making changes to its design as well as its features, which keep the app fresh and exciting. See the infographic below to learn more about Snapchat
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