Evan Spiegel (born 1990) shared with his Snap employees that they work for a rare social media platform that “makes people happy.” The statement, as a way to motivate Snap employees, was made in the context of the platform’s business operations facing some challenges.
“Social media is dead. Long live Snapchat!”, the CEO wrote and said Snap had “reached a real turning point”.
Besides, Evan Spiegel also attacked competitors that he vaguely referred to as Facebook, Instagram, as well as platform X, formerly Twitter.
“This year is an opportunity to build on everything we’ve built and worked hard on,” Evan Spiegel said, then elaborated on how Snap is improving performance for users and advertisers.
In the shared article, at least in the first half of 2024, Snap will focus on a number of important projects that the company believes are necessary for long-term success, including a plan to focus on user development in Vietnam. some developed markets such as North America and Europe.
If successful, Snap will have the financial position Spiegel wants to further promote AR products.
“Time is very important. Augmented reality glasses will gain momentum before the end of the decade and this is our opportunity to push the limits of smartphones, thereby providing exciting experiences. Business activities need to bring enough profit to create a future,” Spiegel said.
At the end of the post, Spiegel took aim at competitors in the social media space. He also recalled when he founded Snapchat more than a decade ago, that he and Bobby Murphy wanted to build “an antidote to the online competition that started with MySpace, gradually became Facebook and finally Instagram.”
Ultimately, he positioned Snapchat as a platform that brings “happiness,” especially to teens, through its messaging features and focus on close relationships. The move is expected to be effective, especially in the context of Meta continuously facing lawsuits surrounding risks to teenagers.
“We are far from perfect, but while our competitors are quietly promoting negative, sensitive content, Snapchat makes people happy,” the CEO emphasized.
“You can clearly see Evan’s hatred for Meta in almost every letter he sends,” a Snap employee commented.
“Dear friend,
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all were able to recharge after the holidays. We still have many difficulties ahead in 2024.
However, after many years of fighting through many challenges, I feel we have reached a real turning point. This year is an opportunity for Snap to fully utilize its momentum and potential.
Recent advances are all the result of a process of constant effort and focus on Snap’s position and role in people’s lives. The platform will definitely help enhance relationships between friends, family and the world.
Snap helps people connect. Snap’s data science team has developed a new method to help users identify close friends on Snapchat, while also building features that support close relationships. We help people find and connect deeply with their best friends. We promote happiness while growing our business.
The first half of this year focuses on a number of projects that we believe are essential for long-term development.
First, we continue to develop machine learning models to better differentiate between ad interactions on the platform. Last year’s efforts saw model development help increase channel engagement and improve performance for advertisers. This year, we’re expanding that to all of our advertising objectives.
Second, we’re unifying content and ad interactions across Spotlight and Stories. Personalized content will reach the right user.
Finally, we are shifting our focus more to user growth in developed markets like North America and Europe. Over the years, we’ve driven daily active user growth by focusing on Android performance in countries like India. We will continue to promote in the APAC region, while increasing investment and improving product experience.
We believe focusing on three big goals will help Snap improve performance for advertisers, increase content engagement, and drive revenue growth.
Timing is important. Augmented reality glasses will gain momentum before the end of the decade and this is our opportunity to push the limits of smartphones, thereby providing exciting experiences. Business activities need to bring enough profit to create a future.
Technology will not disappear. Our responsibility is to make it more humane, more integrated into life so that we can benefit from its limitless potential.”
It is known that in September 2023, Snapchat reached the target of 5 million subscribers for the Snapchat+ paid service. The milestone marks the halfway point to the ambition of 10 million accounts, which CEO Evan Spiegel considers a medium-term goal.