Early reviews for the update came back very negative. According to TechCrunch, eighty three percent of the reviews on the App Store were given a one or two star rating. With SnapChat stories located only on the far left side of the application, users stats showed zero growth in users posting stories in a three month period. This statistic is alarming because the three month period prior to the update showed growth of 7 percent in this category.
Here is a picture of what the actual update looks like on each different section.
The biggest impact that the update has for me is the change in the layout of the news part of SnapChat. One of the biggest reasons I go on SnapChat multiple times a day is to look at the various news sources that can be found on the app. Typically, I would go through all the stories I had on my feed and then go through some of the news sources. With the new update, the stories and news pieces of the app have been separated.
The argument over whether people actually look at the news sources on SnapChat is one that is also very rampant. According to the Pew Research Center, as of August 2017, more than two thirds of Americans claim to get some of their news from social media platforms. This percentage was an increase of 25 percent from the previous year. Specifically for SnapChat, roughly 30 percent of users rely on the application to get their news. This number increased by almost 50 percent from 2016 to 2017. Overall, I think it is clear that the new format of SnapChat may be unpopular in the early stages, but it will not slow the growth it is experiencing in this statistic.
References:
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/11/snapchat-redesign-uninstall/
http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/
Drew,
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that nearly 30% of Snapchat users get their news information from this platform. With the availability of data on today's social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, I do not the logic in obtaining news from a photo-sharing application. Most of the time, when I look at the news section of Snap, it is previously generated articles that are not deep in substance or relevant (to me at least). I prefer to use a site like Twitter or Facebook, where I can search news article that I prefer to read. Nonetheless, the new update took me about 3-4 weeks to adjust to and I have recently noticed a decrease in my Snap usage since. Great post!
Drew,
ReplyDeleteI found this to be a very interesting post. The Snapchat update did receive alot of negative feedback early on. As time went on I believe people began to get used to the update. I too found myself not using this application as much when the update first came out. As of now I find myself surfing through the news and public snap stories when I am very bored. The news on this application is very biased childish for my liking. Although, It is interesting to see what kind of news is being put out to this new generation that are just getting their first iphone's and downloading Snapchat.