Snapchat CEO, Evan Spiegel, admitted that its users prefer to use its TikTok-like feature, Spotlight, more than its original format, Stories.
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 06: In this photo illustration the Snapchat app is used on an iPhone on October 6, 2014 in London, England. Snapchat allows users' messages to vanish after seconds. It is being reported that Yahoo may invest millions of dollars in the start up firm.
Snapchat's Stories feature used to be one of the most sought-after formats in social media. In fact, Facebook and Instagram even went on to release their own version of it that goes by the same name.
For some time, even the microblogging social media platform, Twitter, had its Stories-like feature known as Fleets, but it bid farewell after its short stint.
Snapchat TikTok-Like Feature
Nowadays, the CEO of Snapchat's parent firm, Snap, admitted during its report for the quarterly earnings that less number of users are spending their time watching videos from its Stories feature, as per a report by The Verge.
To the surprise of Snap, its users have been spending more of their time on the Spotlight feature of Snapchat, which is basically the TikTok-like offering of the social media platform.
Users of Snapchat have been transitioning to its Spotlight feature to view the viral videos that its creators have been posting.
Not to mention that the Discover section, which offers premium shows, is also pulling some views from its Stories feature.
Snapchat Stories Downfall
The Snap CEO also disclosed that the firm actually expected the number of Stories viewers to significantly increase during the raging COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. It comes as more folks are stuck in the confines of their homes with not much to do.
Spiegel added that the views for Stories have failed to return to their pre-pandemic levels. However, the Snap boss is still hopeful that it will still see some improvements over time.
Nevertheless, the Snap exec said that they now "focused on innovating on our content offering to better serve our community today."
The Verge noted in the same news story that the Snap CEO has yet to give more specific details about it.
What is Snapchat Spotlight?
Essentially, according to an online article by InVideo, Spotlight is the bite-size video feature of Snapchat, similar to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.
The Snapchat app is displayed on the home screen of an iPhone on May 2, 2018 in San Anselmo, California. Stock prices for Snapchat dropped 20 percent before slightly rebounding after reporting first quarter earnings of $230.66 million on Tuesday that didn't meet analyst expectations of $243.6 million
However, what sets Spotlight apart from its rivals is the absence of the comments section, but the rest of the TikTok functions are readily available.
Snapchat Spotlight and AR
As per the report of Social Media Today, the earnings report of Snapchat also revealed that about 65% of the Spotlight submissions are now using the AR lenses of Snap, on top of other tools.
That said, the TikTok-like feature of Snapchat not only increases the daily users of Snapchat. Instead, it also helps the firm promote its AR lenses.
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Written by Teejay Boris
