This is the End for Snapchat
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Snapchat has seen some better days. When the app first started picking up steam, thanks to its unique way of making social media feel more "exclusive", it was valued at nearly $30. But after some horrible decisions made lately, like trying to compete with Instagram, infusing commercial advertisements into users' timelines, and now this situation, the stock is plummeting like a sinking ship.
The Last Straw
Over the past couple days, Snapchat has been scrambling to control the damage done by a disgusting and terrible advertisement they displayed on their app. To be honest, I have no idea what the original intent of the image was. It's clearly mocking the domestic abuse dispute between artists Rhianna and Chris Brown, and I'm not sure if there was ANY other motive behind this other than malicious.
Of course, this image started to make its round across social media. Most people were absolutely stunned at how Snapchat could ever allow this type of graphic to be displayed on their app. Finally, it got to Rihanna where she made this post, on Instagram.
"Now SNAPCHAT I know you already know you ain't my fav app out there! But I'm just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess!" the singer wrote. "I'd love to call it ignorance but I know you ain't that dumb. You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it."
Snapchat, once made aware of the situation, released this statement to The Verge. "This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service. We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again."
But it might be too little too late. Their stock has been falling since the incident became public, now sitting at a depressing $17.01. This is also combined with the publics disapproval of their latest update, which combines both the app's discovery tab with the personal tab. Their reason behind this was to improve discovery of other snapchat accounts, but in reality is just a way for them to monetize their app, something that has been very difficult for them to do.
In my opinion, Snapchat will never be able to regain the popularity the app once had. It may not completely die, but if they can't figure out a way to monetize their platform, while also keeping users happy and engaged, then Instagram is going to continue to dominate. Speaking of which, Instagram already containing many of the features that made Snapchat so unique. Couple that with the public's image of Snapchat after this situation, it's going to be quite tough for the Silicon Valley company to pull itself out of the hole they dug themselves.