How Does Snapchat Make Money?

Snapchat, known for its disappearing photo messages and funny face filters, has approximately 188 million daily users and a valuation between $10-20 billion (depending on the source).

But how does Snap, Inc. make money off of those disappearing messages?

How Do They Make Money?

Snapchat generates revenue through:

• Advertising (on ‘Discover’ and ‘Stories’ Features)
• Sponsored Filters and Lenses
• Snapchat Spectacles

According to Business Insider, about half of Snapchat’s revenue comes from ads displayed through their “Discover” feature, where users are shown ads between articles and videos. A large portion of revenue is also generated from ads within Stories (and most recently Live Stories), as well as from sponsored lenses and filters.

Snapchat’s Spectacles are another way that Snap Inc. generates revenue. Spectacles.com lists them for sale between $149.99 – $199.99 per pair (depending on style), a charging cord for $14.99 and a charging case for $49.99.

Watch This Video To Learn How Snapchat Makes Money

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a messaging application used to share photos, videos, and drawings – commonly referred to as “Snaps”. The app was first released in 2011 by founders Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. The difference between other messaging apps and Snapchat is that messages sent through the platform are only available to their recipients for a few seconds and then disappear.

Snaps can be shared  publicly in the form of a “story” or shared privately between individual users. Private snaps can be viewed for 1 to 10 seconds (viewing time is determined by the sender) before they disappear and are no longer accessible to the viewer.

Other functionalities of Snapchat are their “Geofilters” and “Lenses”. Geofilters are special overlays available for specific cities or events in the geographic region of the user.  The Lens feature allows users to include real-time effects into their snaps by using face detection technology.

Snapchat estimates that they currently have approximately 188 million daily users, who login at least 25 times per day and use the app for an average of 30 minutes at a time.

How Do You Use Snapchat?

Blogger Christina Newberry of Hootsuite outlines the steps to using Snapchat as follows:

• Download the Snapchat app to your mobile device
• Sign up for an account
• Create your Bitmoji
• Add friends
  • Friends can be added based on geographic location, username, Snapcode, or your phone’s contacts.

To start Snapping, click the “capture” button at the bottom of the screen to take photo or video. Once your content has been recorded, you can edit your image or video using captions, stickers, filters as well as setting the viewing-timer for your recipient(s).

To view Snaps from your friends, swipe right from the camera screen to open the “Friends” screen. If friends have sent you Snaps, you’ll see an icon next to their username. If Snaps are available, click on the message to open it.

Watch This Video To Learn How To Use Snapchat

Is Snapchat Safe For Kids?

Snapchat maintains compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and requires users to be at least 13 years of age in order to use their app.

Ultimately, it is up to parents to decide if the use of Snapchat is appropriate for their children/ young teens. Parents should have a conversation with their children prior to allowing the use of any social media application about how to operate the app and manage their account safely.

Safety Considerations for Parents with Kids Using Snapchat:

• The ability to manage settings from within the app
• The possibility of your child sharing explicit images (such as Sexting) that could lead to harassment, reputation damage, or to the embarrassment of your child
• Remembering that Snap screenshots are possible
• The ability for you or your child to block specific users, report abuse or flag underage users