Snapchat Surpasses Twitter in Popularity but Still Lacks Strong Measurement

Snapchat now has over 150 million daily active users, up from the 110 million in December, according to Bloomberg. That’s more than Twitter’s estimated 136 million daily users. Twitter doesn’t disclose its daily active users but has said about 44 percent of its 310 million monthly active users are active on the platform every day.

The news highlights both Snapchat’s rapid rise to popularity and Twitter’s on-going stagnation.

Depending on how you measure popularity and users, Snapchat could be considered one of the top three social media networks. Social Media Today places it after Facebook and Instagram but before Twitter and LinkedIn. Proponents say its attraction is that it’s fun and easy to use. It has over 10 billion video views every day, daily sessions per user average 25 to 30 minutes, and 60% of users also create new content.

Successful Examples

With this large user base, Snapchat has become a prime platform for public relations, content marketing, and online advertising.

In its Snapchance campaign, McDonald’s Norway sent out snaps with coupons for smoothies. Because the coupons disappeared shortly after opening, consumers had to go to a McDonald’s to view and use them. Within two weeks, McDonalds had 2,700 followers. More important, it encouraged more people to enter their stores.

In another example, Toy company Sphero promoted its new Star Wars toy, the BB-8 droid, by collaborating with influencers who distributed pictures and videos of the toy. One influencer Shaun McBride boasts two million views a day on Snapchat. The campaign generated 10 million views in a day, half a million engagements on other social media sites. The toy sold out in stores in a day.

Marketing on Snapchat

Its sudden rise to prominence has prompted brands to strive to learn how to market on the Snapchat.

The best marketing content is playful, simple, intimate and eye-catching. Successful campaigns include influencer marketing and cross promotions on other networks.

The most common description of Snapchat is “ephemeral.” Snaps, or photos or videos sent to users, can be viewed for no longer than 10 seconds. Stories, or snap collections broadcast to followers, are available for 24 hours. While Snapchat is best known for sending images that disappear after several seconds, a key to its success is its imaging software that allows users to alter photos.

Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey speaking at Recode’s technology conference called Spapchat’s messaging “very modern,” Bloomberg noted. Dorsey conceded that Twitter can sometimes be confusing to newcomers, a disadvantage he is trying to fix.

A Concern for Twitter

Twitter has reason to worry. Snapchat recently hired Sriram Krishnan, the executive who previously ran the Facebook Audience Network. That indicates the app may be creating a dedicated sales team and automating its ad buying process.

Facebook is strong enough to survive Snapchat’s growth, because of its large user base, strong advertising products, and its ownership of Instagram, writes Adam Levy for The Motley Fool. “Twitter might have to worry, however,” Levy says. “Its ability to grow its advertiser base has been overshadowed by competition, reaching just 130,000 at the end of last year. For comparison, Instagram already has 200,000 active advertisers.”

Lack of Measurement

Lack of measurement is Snapchat’s main disadvantage, marketers say.

“The absence of any good metrics in Snapchat and a proper API [is] the number one problem for marketers,” Jan Rezab, founder and executive chairman of Socialbakers, told DMN. “You can’t see much, and this will create a barrier for Snapchat to attract any advertisers or interest from CMOs in any serious way.”

Accumulating data about users may be challenging, considering they often use the network to remain relatively anonymous in the first place, Rezab said.

Bottom Line: Snapchat has joined the ranks of the major social media networks and surpassed Twitter in the number of daily active users, according to news reports. The news may gain the attention of marketers, but how Snapchat will improve its measurement capabilities to attract substantial marketing and advertising investments from brands remains to be seen.