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TECHNOLOGY Saturday 10 december 2016
Snapchat: How the vanishing-photo app managed not to fade

MAE ANDERSON monthly active users as of
AP Technology Writer Sept. 30.
NEW YORK (AP) — Snap- LEARNING TO GROW
chat has managed to But while Snap is popular
build something lasting out with the coveted 18- to 34-
of photos that vanished al- year old audience, it will
most instantly. eventually have to broad-
The fast-growing social en its appeal to grow.
network for millennials has “It’s a great base to start
come a long way since with, (but) ultimately they
its founder Evan Spiegel need to become a little bit
dropped out of Stanford broader in terms of appeal
University in 2012, three to users in order to become
classes shy of graduation. broader in terms of appeal
His goal at the time was to advertisers,” Gartner an-
to create a snappy way alyst Brian Blau said.
for people to send photos, Twitter went public in 2013
videos and messages — all to high acclaim, but it
of which would disappear hasn’t succeeded in grow-
just 10 seconds after view- ing its membership at the
ing. rate investors want. It re-
Snapchat cut a sharp con- cently laid off 9 percent
trast to Facebook and oth- In this Monday, Nov. 28, 2016 photo, a vending machine containing Spectacles stands in a closed of its workforce. As part of
er social networks, which store, in New York. belt tightening, Twitter also
encouraged people to Associated Press killed its Vine video app,
share and share often — which was wildly popu-
even those spontaneous users did. It’s now a full- past 24 hours. It’s so popu- erine Boyle. lar with teens but didn’t
moments they might come featured messaging ser- lar that Facebook’s Insta- Amanda Peters, 22, a have a reliable way to
to regret the next morning vice popular with millenni- gram now has a version of dance instructor in Fairfax, make revenue. It’s clearly
or at the next job interview. als and big brands alike. It it, and Instagram just rolled Virginia, wasn’t sure how a fate Snap — with a simi-
Snapchat, by contrast, let even rebranded as Snap out disappearing photos, much she would use Snap- lar youthful audience —
people “show and share Inc. and now calls itself “a too. chat when she got it as a wants to avoid.
things that they do not camera company.” A “Discover” section serves college freshman in 2012. NOW YOU SEE THEM, NOW
want to last on the internet Now it’s hoping to make as a wide-ranging news But she’s grown to like it YOU DON’T
as a permanent record,” itself into a big winner on section, featuring material more with Lenses. For now, though, Snap
said Ira Kalb, a marketing Wall Street as well. Accord- tailored for millennials by a “I like the goofy filters,” is managing to remain
and branding professor at ing to news reports, Snap is select group of publishers. she said. “They’re always hip and even has an un-
the University of Southern readying for a public stock “Lenses” lets people add changing them up, which conventional distribution
California. offering that could value different animated over- is nice. Every day you can strategy for Spectacles ,
That feature, however, the company at $20 bil- lays to photos and videos; go to see what’s new.” $130 sunglasses that take
quickly associated the lion to $25 billion. Snap de- the feature has proven Snap’s ad revenue has video for sharing on Snap-
company with “sexting,” clined to comment. to be popular both with jumped from $59 million chat. You can’t just order
the sharing of sexually ex- REFUSING TO DISAPPEAR young adults and advertis- in 2015 to nearly $367 mil- one online — yet. Rather,
plicit photos through cell- The company has worked ers. lion in 2016, according to- they have to find a vend-
phone messaging. Had hard to roll out new fea- “Snapchat has steadily eMarketer. It’s on pace to ing machine or temporary
Snapchat done nothing tures so users don’t get introduced new features have more monthly active store popping up with just
else, it might well have bored. ... and in terms of user en- users than Twitter — which 24 hours’ notice. So far,
faded quickly itself, as such “Stories” allows individu- gagement it seems like us- counts 317 million — by the vending machines have
fads often do. als and brands to create a ers are spending quite a end of the year. Of course, showed up near the com-
Instead, Snapchat showed narrative from messages, bit of time in each,” said that is still dwarfed by pany’s headquarters in
a knack for evolving as its videos and photos from the eMarketer analyst Cath- Facebook, with 1.79 billion the Venice Beach section
of Los Angeles, as well as
Pebble discontinuing smartwatches after its sale to Fitbit in Big Sur, California, and
New York. Lines in New
York stretched for hours
PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — Pebble’s first smartwatch when the machines first
Pioneering smartwatch was launched in 2012, appeared.
maker Pebble is no longer three years before the Ap- Geoff Golberg, who works
manufacturing or selling ple Watch. in marketing in New York,
any of its devices after the The company had raised waited three hours in line.
bulk of the company was more than $10 million for An active livestreamer, he
bought by Fitbit. the project through a Kick- livestreamed himself on
Palo Alto, California-based starter campaign. It raised Periscope as he bought
Pebble says its devices will more than $20 million the Spectacles.
continue to work as nor- through the site for an up- “It was a spectacle,” Gol-
mal for now but might lose dated version of the watch berg said in a phone in-
functionality in the future. last year. terview. “Inside everyone
San Francisco-based Fit- Pebble founder Eric Migi- is taking video, posting
bit announced the deal covsky calls the sale “bit- content to Instagram and
to acquire Pebble on tersweet.” He says many taking Snaps. They cre-
Wednesday. Terms weren’t Pebble employees will be In this Feb. 12, 2013, file photo, Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble, ated so much buzz around
disclosed. joining Fitbit.q displays his company’s smart watch in Palo Alto, Calif. this product by limiting
Associated Press supplies.”q