Snapchat has been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2018, and to top things off for the company, it has lost 6% in stock value in the US stock market thanks to one tweet.
Furthermore, the financial equivalent of this 6% has seen a total of $1.3bn (£929m) knocked off Snap Inc.’s market value.
The billion-dollar tweet came from one of the world’s biggest reality celebrities of recent times, Kylie Jenner. The tweet from February 21 can be seen below:
sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
In this statement, Jenner hints that Snapchat is no longer what it once used to be, and she is not alone in these thoughts. Just over 24 hours after the tweet was posted, Snapchat saw a huge downturn in the market. It would seem that this chain of events has been triggered by one action – an update to the app.
The company unveiled one of its biggest updates in its six-and-a-half-year history, since inception in September 2011. This major revamp saw the interface of the app change significantly, with features moving from one section of the app to another, and many users were not best pleased about it.
Prior to the update, users were able to see all snaps, Stories and media coverage from a single screen. However, the company has now separated these entities, sending snaps and Stories from friends to one side of the app under the ‘Friends’ tab, with Stories from public accounts and celebrities joining other media content on the other side of the app under the ‘Discover’ tab. The latter section has transformed from the usual list into a page of large, messy looking asymmetrical blocks.
The update was first introduced at the end of January, and was met with a rather frosty reception at the time, with users expressing their dislike of the new layout. Since then, a petition has been flying round calling for the company to implement a reverse update. At the time of writing, this had accrued more than 1.2 million signatures. Should this continue, Snapchat will see a significant number of its 187 million user base leave.
As a result of the update, many Snapchat users have jumped ship, and with celebrities and other social media influencers being included in this category, the effect on the company could have more severe consequences than a 6% dip in stock value.
- Chrome to warn users regarding insecure web forms - August 20, 2020
- Google trials virtual business cards in India - August 14, 2020
- DuckDuckGo claims Google market share would drop if users given choice - August 11, 2020
