In the cut-throat world of the social media industry, a clone winning against an original app is like a dagger to the heart. And, this is exactly what's happening with Snapchat vs. Instagram. Instagram may be the bigger guy, but Instagram Stories is a direct clone of Snapchat Stories. Nevertheless, Instagram is stealing users from Snapchat.
According to some reports, Snapchat Stories is experiencing user decline of 15% - 40%. Snapchat Stories is also said to have suffered a 20% - 30% decline in views. Although there are a lot of agencies that monitor social media activity, not one has officially claimed the numbers to be true. Perhaps, most of them are fearing retaliation from Snapchat. Yet, off the records, a lot would say that this decline is accurate.
On the other hand, Instagram Stories is gaining 150 million daily users in a span of 25 weeks since its launch. Snapchat had the same number of users by June of 2016. It was a rapid climb from 110 million daily users since December of 2015.
By August to November 2016, Snapchat made a U-turn, with a 40% decline in daily users. During this time, Instagram Stories increased its open rate by 28%.
When it comes to app downloads, Snapchat experienced a significant drop as Instagram Stories feature was officially launched, which was around the early days of August 2016. By the end of the year, Snapchat fell to its lowest ranking which is #11.
According to social media analysts, one of the biggest reasons for Snapchat's decline is because of the removal of a feature known as the Auto-Advance. With such feature, the app would simply move to the next item without confirmation from the user. Upon removal of the said feature, Snapchat immediately experienced a 9.64% drop of user views. According to Snapchat, the views may have dropped but the views are more valuable compared to the old system.
Another reason for the decline is influencers have left the platform. A lot of the social media stars that were late to the Snapchat scene simply abandoned their efforts as soon as Instagram stepped in. For many of the influencers, they already had a large following on Instagram which makes it convenient for them. The removal of the Auto-Advance feature plus the ease of Instagram's app made it only worse for Snapchat.
To add drama to the story, Snapchat is filing for an IPO in the very near future. In fact, the company is already doing its pre-IPO roadshow. You can be sure that Snapchat will be boasting impressive stats. However, the consensus says that the company would have had better numbers if not for Instagram Stories breathing down on its neck. Yet, Snapchat still has companies that advertise with it such as Taco Bell and Pepsi.
Snapchat is definitely experiencing a change, but it's not for the better. If the company can't stop the continuing decline of the user base, then the app would surely be the next MySpace.
