Snapchat’s Conundrum
Instagram Stories put plenty of pressure on that little yellow app on your homescreen with the winky ghost. In fact, Snapchat’s growth slowed 82% after the launch of Insta Stories. Snap lost $514M last year, $372M the year before and warned they may never achieve or maintain profitability. Nonetheless, Snap Inc. announced they filed for a $3B IPO and now that their financials are public, they’re wanting investors to focus on the positive:
- Overall, Snapchat grew daily active users by almost 50% in the past year.
- As of December 31st, 2016, they had 161 million daily active users; although only 5 million were added at the end of the last quarter.
- In 2016, Snap brought in $404.5M in annual revenue — a 589% increase over 2015.
Guess it’s time for me to get with the program and start letting the Insta world know about what I’m making for dinner and what beer is on the menu for the weekend. (Source: The Hustle).
Uber’s CEO Quits Trump’s Advisory Board
Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, no longer wants to ride with President Trump…. or at least he doesn’t want to sit shotgun on his advisory board. The recent U.S. immigration ban has put unforeseen pressure on individual companies and employees; Uber included. The CEO was criticized on social media for supporting Trump and the executive order on immigration. “Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the President or his agenda, but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that,” said Kalanick. Will this decision bring back all 200,000 customers that deleted their Uber accounts during the #DeleteUber digital uprising?? (Source: BBC News)
Snapchat & Its Cloud Service
Snapchat is paying to Google $400 million a year for cloud services. This monetary amount is about the same the social media company earned in revenue last year. Oh, snap. The contract is for five years. While Google’s cloud service platform is not as popular as Microsoft or Amazon, being tied to a rising star in the social media landscape like Snapchat could help draw other companies to Google’s Cloud Services. The fact that Snapchat pays one single vendor more than they currently earn is not suitable for their planned IPO. Hence, the rumors that they are running fast and furious to IPO before more chinks in their armor are revealed. (Source: PC World)
Losing sleep because you have a teenager daughter that is posting anything and everything to Snapchat and Instagram? We of course have a pill for that in the form of a book: What Happens on Campus Stays on YouTube
