Snapchat is throwing down the gauntlet with in the battle formost dominant messaging app.
"By doubling down on messaging, Snapchat is finallygoing toe-to-toe with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, its two largest rivalsin the space," wroteMaya Kosoff in Vanity Fair. "Butit's also a larger play for social-media domination, by creating an in-appecosystem designed to keep users inside Snapchat for as long as possible."
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Messenger boasted more than 800million monthly active users at the end of 2015 and WhatsApp had a billion users as ofFebruary. By comparison, Snapchat has more than 100million daily active users. But Snapchat executives say users view 8billion videos each day, which is on par with the number of daily videos viewedon Facebook, accordingto Bloomberg News.
Chat 2.0 is also seen by some as a challenge to telcocompanies. If consumers shift to calling through Snapchat or Facebook, it coulddisrupt how the companies do business, Kosoff said.
"The playfulness of the interface should resonate wellwith Snapchat's core millennial audience and help the company in its quest tobe the go-to social platform for spontaneous, unfiltered communication,"wrote Forbes' Kathleen Chaykowski in an articleheadlined, "Snapchat's Major Messaging Overhaul Makes The App Even MoreAddictive."
Snapchat has taken a Facebook-esque approach tomonetization, developing its product with a user-first mindset beforeintegrating a monetization model. Josh Constine of TechCrunch wrote that the app'scommunication features are a means to entice users to explore Snapchat's otherfeatures.
"Nothing here has anything to do with monetizationdirectly," he wrote of the company's suite of communication tools."But the more people swipe right to chat, the more likely they'll wonderwhat's on the other side of Snapchat's camera, including Live Stories andDiscover channels that are filled with ads."
Media observers also pointed to a growing rivalry betweenFacebook and Snapchat for dominance in messaging. Chaykowski wrote thatSnapchat could take a cue from Facebook as far as monetization opportunities.
"Over the past year, Facebook Messenger launchedcab-hailing and several customer service tools, in addition to voice and videocalling. It's likely that Snapchat will follow suit in introducing shoppingfeatures and other services to the platform over time," she wrote.