Universal Information Services

Like many other people in the world I am an avid Snapchat user and enjoy the app, well, I enjoyed the app. Ever since Snapchat chose to completely revamp their user interface they have alienated a huge portion of their users. What I can gather from my 18-22 year  old demographic is that we do not like it, so much so that there is a Change.org campaign to get the old Snapchat back.

We, the 18-22 year olds, like snapchat to send pictures and videos to our friends. This new update seems too heavily focused on the daily shows posted by big name networks and media outlets, such as Sportscenter, The Washington Post, People, Buzzfeed, etc. This new update had made Snapchat seem like a middle man for news/media and not something fun to do with your friends.

The troubled Snapchat update really took a hit when Kylie Jenner slaughtered SNAP’s stock price as she tweeted, “Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad”. The day the tweet came out SNAP, Snapchat’s parent company, closed 6% lower on the stock market, knocking $1.3Billion off their company market value. That was one expensive tweet!

Somebody went so far as to figure out that for awhile you could delete the app, re-download it, and it would be the old version. So it seems the opinion against the new update is widely shared, from their most influential user to the everyday fan, so why haven’t they just changed it back? Most likely Snapchat is trying to solidfy itself as more of a news outlet rather just a goofy app that is fun to do with your friends. We’ve seen this in a different form when they partnered with Square to give you the ability to transfer money through Snapchat, which was also widely rejected. So my advice to the Snapchat users in distress would be to hold tight and wait for the next update. Maybe SNAP will listen to their users, or maybe they’ll at least listen to Wall St.

This has been another post by Teddy Murphy. I’m keeping my eye on what’s next.