By Adam Kelly | Echo
Is Snapchat learning bad manners?
Once strongly opposed to the idea of introducing ads to the app's personal communications, the company went so far as to say if Snapchat did that, it would be "rude." It's rude now.Snapchat decided to start showing ads because it needs to create revenue, according to the company's recent blog post. The ads began three weeks ago.
Snapchat has gained popularity, rising from 350 million snaps shared per day last October to 700 million this past May, the company stated. Over 1 billion stories were viewed each day in May. If each person sends one story each day, that is about one-seventh of the world's population using Snapchat.
Due to the quantity of Snapchat users, the service is worth $10 billion, said the Wall Street Journal. The number of younger generation people that use the app make it that worthy to investors. But Snapchat recently started showing ads for revenue. The ads are inserted into users' recent updates feed. They only play if you click on them, and disappear after 24 hours if not viewed.
The company said the ads would never be a part of the app's personal communications. The company said that would be "rude."
"We won't put advertisements in your personal communication-things like Snaps or Chats," the company said. "We want to see if we can deliver an experience that's fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted."
A nice sentiment, but ads never stay fun and informative for long. They may start out that way, but once the company realizes the amount of revenue they can make, things change.
The way many apps and websites work is that after viewing an item or product online, that information gets shared with different companies. Similar products then come up on different websites.What's to stop Snapchat from following the same path? Snapchat could become like that soon. Either other companies sharing information and ads with Snapchat could entice certain groups to view their ads, or Snapchat could share snaps that provide a view of a company's product. Predictably, the ad intake would cease to be "fun."
The company said it will use the ad revenue to bring terrific products to the users of the app, but I wonder if it really will. Making money and bringing more products to users are two different things. More products cost more money, which means more ads.
Snapchat became a billion-dollar company with ad-free usage. There is no need to start showing ads for more revenue. They may disappear after viewing or 24 hours, but it won't be long before the ads are constantly on the "recent updates" section of Snapchat. Snapchat will ruin another service many enjoyed prior to ads. It is time to say no to ads that are ruining user experience.
