“The kids who are losing their passion for Facebook are pretty much exactly the same ones who are flocking to Snapchat by the million”
Facebook won’t expect to see that its real competitor would really arise from the mobile applications. Snapchat basically allows you to send photos and short video clips and only let your friends seeing it for a few seconds. It is very different compared to ordinary social media such as blogs, news feed and text messaging since the message in snap chat could only last for “a blink of an eye”. Facebook, on the other hand, didn’t have much change that would stabilize its consumer segment these years. According to article, “decrease in daily users specifically among younger teens” would be a huge concern of the company itself. Facing the pressure from twitter’s success since IPO, Facebook has to eliminate any risks that could let the company loose more users.
Why are snapchat so popular that leads the company into a multibillion level? It makes me think about a similar case in China, where mobile app called we-chat have already taken a huge partition of market share from the former social media giant QQ from Tencent. It is generally true that mobile-based social media like snapchat and we chat, are more likely to capture what consumer wants because they only need to invest in the development of mobile applications. Facebook, on the other hand, might face the pressure from lack of innovation and its huge competitor so far, Twitter.
References:
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeji45ejejf/2010-facebook-pages-4/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidwismer/2013/11/17/snapchat-how-to-make-3-billion-or-was-it-4-billion-disappear-and-other-quotes-of-the-week/