Snapchat is an IPhone application that allows users to send and receive photos and videos that disappear after they are view. This nifty little idea that started back in 2011 has certainly become a hit as it recently received- then rejected- a multibillion-dollar proposal from Facebook. Oh and I forgot to mention that they make zero dollars. The reason behind it? As a very young company, Snapchat has its own plans in earning money, and this plan goes beyond solely advertising. Duplicating a strategy that a China-based chatting app called WeChat uses, they plan to earn revenue through a user subscriptions to specific brands. Snapchat users will subscribe to brands of interest, take Starbucks for example, which will then receive messages such as specials like “buy one beverage, get one free”. This different approach greater focuses on consumers need, rather than obnoxiously forcing products and services when consumers aren’t interested.

Digging deeper into this new method, it truly revolutionizes the major issue of advertising: when it backfires, ’cause consumers don’t want to see it. Similar to natural advertising, which advertises based on the users search history, this creates an even smaller niche of what is being advertised. Because the users are essentially choosing what they want to see, the response will be much higher because users are given the choice in the first place. If implemented, this new strategy might just definitely be worth more than billions.

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