Snap is testing a “simplified model of Snapchat,” CEO Evan Spiegel wrote in a letter to workers printed on Snap’s web site Tuesday. The CEO says the simplified model goals to enhance the platform’s accessibility and value. For people who bear in mind Snapchat’s 2018 redesign, this information might do little to stoke confidence.
Spiegel tried to rally worker spirits along with his letter on Tuesday after a miserable 12 months for the corporate’s inventory value, which has fallen practically 50% in 2024.
“Investors are involved that we aren’t rising sooner,” stated Spiegel within the letter.
The “simplified” Snapchat could also be an try and seize older customers, who’re traditionally perplexed by the app’s not-so-intuitive design. Snapchat does rather a lot higher at attracting youthful audiences, who appear to simply get the app. But this isn’t the primary time Snapchat has tried to reconcile these points.
You may bear in mind Snap’s 2017 earnings name when Spiegel admitted that he’s heard, “Snapchat is obscure or onerous to make use of,” notably for older people. Months later, Snap pushed out a serious redesign to reclaim these customers, jamming Stories between non-public messages, amongst different modifications that ended up infuriating extra customers than it attracted.
A 2018 Change.org petition to “take away the brand new Snapchat replace” acquired 1.2 million signatories, whereas celeb influencers like Kylie Jenner, Chrissy Teigen and Marques Brownlee expressed their frustration. But even worse, the redesign cratered the platform’s advert views and income, alienating its youthful userbase whereas failing in its bid to draw older people. By May of 2018, Snap was scrambling to roll again a number of the modifications.
Spiegel writes in Tuesday’s letter that early checks of the simplified redesign have been “directionally constructive,” although the CEO notes “we shall be considerate and deliberate about making a change of this magnitude.” He’s nearly undoubtedly alluding to the 2018 redesign failure, which I’m positive nobody at Snap has forgotten about.
The announcement of a brand new, simplified model of Snapchat was tucked into Spiegel’s broader musings about Snap’s enterprise technique. He claimed that Snap’s enterprise into augmented actuality glasses — which it calls Spectacles — would yield a market with no rivals. Perhaps he’s pretending that Meta’s AR glasses, Meta Ray-Bans, merely don’t exist?
In an effort to stimulate Snapchat’s struggling advert division, Spiegel additionally introduced new placements for advertisements, referred to as Sponsored Snaps and Promoted Places. The former permits advertisers to ship Snapchats on to customers’ chat inboxes, and the latter lets advertisers promote locations on Snap Map.
