This post originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Beth Treffeisen.
When Snapchat entered the social media scene in 2011, it quickly became famous for allowing users to send quick videos that vanish after they are viewed. But faced with a declining stock price and slow user growth, Snapchat is pivoting away from connecting friends in favor of discovery tools aimed at helping content creators.
However, it may be too late to join the party, experts say. After all, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram have been using this technique for years.
“I definitely think they're struggling,” says Yakov Bart, an associate professor of marketing at Northeastern. “That's probably not news. But the fundamental problem of Snapchat is TikTok.”
