Snapchat Turns Down Facebook - A Battle Of Wits?
Small startups pose threat to Facebook
This week, Facebook, the social media giant, offered little old Snapchat $3 billion for their business... and was rejected! Is this a sign of the power that startup apps and services are holding? How quickly has Snapchat been so popular and how long can it last? There could be an argument that along with our fast paced lifestyles we are preferring fast paced apps; simpler and more direct, fun and uncomplicated. The rejection could be more than a slightly reddened Facebook, but the possibility that the ground is shrinking beneath them.Mark Zuckerburg may have been slightly shaken by the refusal and could well be looking elsewhere to branch out. He may even try to contend with the fun app... But who knows? All we know is Snapchat aren't willing to sell up yet.
Is this a foolish move? It is a possibility, but still it is a relatively new concept and people love it. Apart from the initial connotation that it would be used for, shall we say, explicit photo sharing Snapchat is now more generally used for friends to communicate in a quick and entertaining way.
The photo-sharing app also boasts of the photos being shown only for 3 - 10 seconds... the idea being that the photos won't haunt you forever. There are loopholes to this, and apps available that back up these pictures to be saved, but if it's just for a laugh I guess there is nothing to worry about.
Snapchat have also introduced their 'Stories' extra; allowing you to use both photos and videos to make up a 30 second storyboard to send. This is a strong and effective idea, and from a business point of view, Snapchat are utilising their ideas to the full.
It is not a great surprise, considering its growing (and possibly unexpected) success, that people are trying to buy them out now. Even Google have had a bid, an even higher $4 billion.
Image: http://www.tech-wd.com
But the hysteria of this really just stems from media spin and a bit of gossip. We love the idea of scandal and change and this is one of the biggest social media stories of the week.
We wonder what will be next for companies like Snapchat, how much more can they develop? By the looks of things, they will probably still have some ideas ready to launch. Facebook may have to stop chasing other people's ideas with money and come up with some of their own.
As ever, stringent marketing strategies will need to be researched and executed, quickly. It is becoming clearer each day that the spectrum of social media users is widening. And different users are obviously going to want different thing... quite simple.
So whereas Facebook started with university students when the demographic were screaming out for online communication; Snapchat has risen at a different time completely. It is now much more common for teenagers as young as 13 to have a smart phone. This generation have grown up in a touch-screen technological era; they are computer savvy and ready for new technology. This group of social media users may find Facebook, dare I say it, old-fashioned.
The second set of social media users that have Snapchat are 20-30 year olds. It satisfies a need for us to be with people (online) constantly. We love to text and instant message, this is taking it a step further and it is still proving itself to be popular.
Right now, social media is being dominated with the idea of new business but really the users themselves don't care about that. They just want a lively and effective service that they can enjoy. Snapchat is definitely delivering here but no doubt it will be overtaken by the next big thing in no time.
Snapchat are arguably doing the right thing turning down Facebook and Google, and maybe it will get these big companies to rethink their own strategies but an essential part of business is to know when to buy and when to sell. Let's hope neither leave it too long.
What do you think about the latest social media business deals?
Faye Cannon
Faye Cannon is Content Writer for Social Media Frontiers Ltd. Having an academic background in English and Creative Writing, she now blogs for SMF about the latest trends and social media topics.
Snapchat Turns Down Facebook - A Battle Of Wits?
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Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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Reviewed by Anonymous
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Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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