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Snapchat: Constant content consumption on smartphones changing communication

NEW YORK - A Snapchat executive at the Mobile Marketing Association?s SM2 Innovation Summit said that communicating through content, rather than around it, has lent success to the mobile-first company. 

The Snapchat executive?s ?How Snapchat Changed the Way People Communicate? interview with a Mashable reporter looked at how conveniently mobile has created a space for a photo and video messaging app that rethinks traditional conversations. Snapchat executives plan to continue innovation that will provide experiences to its users that enhance the mobile world.

?We are in such a different state now with the devices offered to us,? said Emily White, COO at Snapchat, San Francisco. ?Through our phones, we are consuming constant content and choosing to communicate this way."

Speaking volumes
Snapchat believes its platform provides content that Millennials are deeply interested in. Given a dynamic change in the purpose of messaging, originating as a problem solver and transforming more into a stage of emotional imagery, the brand attracts consumers who wish share intimate parts of their days.

When people prepare to share something personal on social media, they tend to think deeply into it and pay a lot of attention to it, Ms. White said.

Perhaps the biggest, forthcoming challenge the brand will face is connecting with the user and ensuring they are viewing the content. 

Meanwhile, fewer than half of Snaphat?s users are located in the U.S. Its networks in Latin America and Saudi Arabia are dominating the user base.

Snapchat content is about being in the moment, and continues to create minor innovations to its platform, such as geo-filters, allowing users to insert filters based on the location they are currently in.

Looking forward, Snapchat will be watching globally at how much demand there is for digital messaging, Ms. White said.

Funding concerns
A recent report that mobile photo-sharing application Snapchat has been in talks to begin serving ads to users has some mobile marketing experts scratching their heads.

Snapchat displays visual media for a few brief seconds and has been primarily favored by teenage users. Targeting ads to people in that environment presents numerous challenges for marketers seeking to get consumers to interact with their brands (see story). 

Currently, all marketing efforts that take place on the platform are organic and use the same reporting that users use.

It is questioned how much stamina the brand has remaining and what sorts of further innovation could carry the brand into the future.

However, Snapchat executives see no end to the road they are driving on.

?Snapchat will look differently in five years,? Ms. White said. ?This is just the beginning.

?Our community growth is very strong, and I think we have a knack for understanding what people want,? she said.

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York