Much like most millennials my age, I am a devout narcissist. What I mean by this is I tweet, and I take selfies -- a lot of selfies. I am from the generation that pioneered the internet. Whatever relatable activity or thought that pops into our head on a daily basis has to be shared with friends and strangers all over the world. We act like we have some enormous following, just like celebrities.
Having grown up with the internet and the evolution of Friendster, to MySpace, and now Facebook, there has been quite the learning curve. The best quality I can attribute to the constant changing of the internet is my innate ability to understand most, if not all technology. If I'm not familiar with it, I guarantee you that I can pick it up within a few hours of just messing around. This being said, Facebook and Snapchat are so rooted into our society that they are not about to become obsolete anytime soon.
When Facebook first launched in 2004, it was wildly popular amongst college students. It continued to grow in popularity so much that in 2006, it became available to everyone over the age of 13. As of last year, Facebook has over 1.86 billion active users. Granted, most of them are over the age of 33, so that's basically our parents and grandparents... Although most of the people I come into contact with on a daily basis have Facebook, those aged 18-24 tend to turn toward other social media platforms for their creative or political outlets. Personally, I reserve Facebook to let my extended family know I am still alive and active in society.
However, if you asked me what I spend the most amount of my day doing on my phone, that's an easy answer, and it is most definitely not Facebook. It's Snapchat. When Snap Inc. first launched their app in 2011, there was a lot of downward glances toward the obvious niche they were filling in the sexting market. I'm talking about naked pictures, people, and if that is how you choose to utilize Snapchat, I'm not going to judge you. However, there is an enormous difference between accidentally sending a tit-pic to your grandmother on Facebook, or your "sort of" friend on Snapchat. (Boobs are boobs, people, but that is an entirely different can of worms.)
Snap Inc. has been in recent news headlines regarding the company going public at an expected valuation of $20-25 billion. On the first day, they surpassed expectations at $28.4 billion, up 44% at $24.53 per share by the end of the first day. Although, 98% of Snapchat revenue comes from advertising, with 158 million daily active users. Snapchat has a very young, active user base, the majority of which are under the age of 25. This demographic is affectionately known as the most admirable age range for advertisers. More recently, millennials have been known to be extremely brand-loyal, but even more extremely hard to market toward. Millennials control over $200 billion in annual buying power and represent a fourth of the entire population.
Individuals between the ages of 17-33 years of age have been found to be politically progressive, highly educated, and career-driven. This being said, I am very conscious of my internet footprint and how I choose to market myself online. Facebook and LinkedIn have been the platforms where I have shaped my professional image, whereas Twitter and Snapchat have been reserved for my more juvenile activities. Now, I'm not saying that I live two different lives, and employers should start following us on Snapchat to see what we really are like. To be frank, the real Courtney eats breakfast foods at all hours of the day and tears up every time a stranger lets her pet their dog. All I am saying is that my connections on LinkedIn and Facebook would not appreciate my 10,000 food pics and college-age shenanigans.
At the end of the day, good business depends on competition, and with the recent updates of Facebook and Instagram's new "story" feature, disappearing photos, and all other attempts to move users away from Snapchat have been somewhat successful. Personally, I say 'no thank you'! Just because there is a can-all, be-all, multi-use platform does not mean I am going to start doing my laundry and making breakfast while I'm taking a shower. Snapchat is so much more than sending racy photos, and it is being proven in the 2.5 billion snaps sent every day.
