Snapchat hopes massive app changes will attract new users

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Snapchat is making the changes after reporting disappointing earnings.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has revealed that Snapchat’s app will be undergoing a major redesign, after the company fell short of expected growth projections for the quarter.

In a letter to investors, Spiegel blamed the difficulties on the service being too difficult for many users to understand. “One thing we have heard over the years is that Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use,” he wrote — adding that, “Our team has been working on responding to this feedback.”

Changes could alienate some users

Among these solutions is likely to be more of a focus on personalization for its Snapchat Stories. Spiegel writes that, “We are developing a new solution that provides each of our 178 million daily active users with their own Stories experience.”

Although details are sparse, he notes that this will leverage, “the tremendous benefits of machine learning without compromising the editorial integrity of the Stories platform that we have worked so hard to build.”

Interestingly, the Snapchat CEO suggested that whatever changes it makes will not prove to be a minor facelift for the service, but rather something that will be, “disruptive to our business in the short term,” and could risk alienating members of the Snapchat community when they use the redesigned app.

However, he writes that, “We’re willing to take that risk for what we believe are substantial long-term benefits to our business.”

Snapchat’s third quarter brought in $207.9 million, substantially less than the $235.5 million that analysts had been expecting. Shares fell significantly as a result, dropping down by up to 22 percent, before finally settling at a drop of 17 percent.

Snapchat recently updated its app to warn users if the recipient of their messages tries to use iOS 11’s new screen recording feature to save a copy of a video.

Source: The Verge

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