Kylie Jenner is a big deal on Snapchat. She was actually the âmost viewedâ person on Snapchat a few years ago, and I think that still holds true, even though Iâm not sure how much she Snaps these days, or how much she Snapped during her pregnancy. But sheâs still a big deal, and sheâs still a big deal with Millennials/Generation Z or whatever. Kylie has a lot of power. So a few weeks ago, she tweeted this:
Mm just saw the new Snapchat.. I donât know how i feel about it! What do you guys think?
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 9, 2018
And then this week, she tweeted this:
sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
still love you tho snap … my first love
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
And this week, Snapchatâs stock prices tumbled.
Hours later on Thursday, shares of Snap fell as much as 7% in tradingâhelping the company shed over $1 billion in market value, bringing its total market cap to about $22 billion. Itâs not hard to imagine why Jennerâs tweet could affect the price of Snapâs stock. Jenner, at least as recent as 2016, was the most viewed person on Snapchat âby a long shot.â Snap did not respond to requests from Fortune to confirm whether thatâs still the case.
âSnap is doing the right strategic moves but needs to manage this process well as celebrity influences like Kylie are a key ingredient in the companyâs recipe for success,â said Daniel Ives of GBH Insights in an email. âWith 25 million [Twitter] users she carries a lot of weight.â
Interestingly enough, while Jenner tweeted at 4:50 p.m.âafter market hoursâSnapâs stock remained relatively unchanged. It wasnât until the markets opened Thursday morning that the stock really began its slide in earnest.
That delayed response may have been as a result of how many eyeballs the tweet garneredâand when.
âThe Tweet did not go viral until late last night in the U.S. with an explosion of re-tweets and newly generated comments as both tweet volume and negative sentiment exploded into the market open today,â said Joseph Gits of Social Market Analytics, a firm whose data trawls for information in social media sites, which is in turn used by major investors to inform their investing decisions.
Do you think Kylie is single-handedly responsible for a massive corporation losing a billion dollars in 24 hours? Eh. I think Kylie is partially responsible, but I also think Kylie was just giving a high-profile voice to some very common complaints about Snapchat. Personally, Iâve never understood Snapchatâs business model or its appeal – Instagram, I understand. Twitter, I totally understand. But Snapchat seems more like a fad that people will outgrow when the next thing comes along. But sure, letâs say that Kylie Jenner has the power to bring down Snapchat. Why not? Peak 2018.
Photos/video courtesy of Instagram.
lmao. i was waiting for you to cover this.
while i do think Kylie is partially responsible, i agree that she was just its biggest mouthpiece but to some very common complaints about Snapchat.
i glad mine hasnt updated. i hear its a travesty. lol
I have a friend who is ten years younger than me in her early/mid 20s. Recently she introduced me to a bunch of her friends who are social media influencers who get paid vast amounts of money per post. I recall finding it amusing that they were slagging off snapchat. About a year beforehand they were all addicted but apparently none of them touch it anymore and they think it is “old news” and passe. One of them was complaining that at a paid gig they asked him to snapchat and that is “off brand” for him and would make him look out of touch, etc. Everything they used to do on Snapchat they now do on Instagram Stories. Personally I have never had snapchat so I am vaguely bemused by all of this. I guess it needs to evolve and grow or it will die.
Uhhh I remember the days of being a student and having a summer job in a factory. Must be nice to make money so easy now a days with social media and being a “popular” person. I do think social media is creating a lot of snobby people who are way too in to themselves.
The growing news story that Snapchat is a purveyor of fake news likely had an influence as well.
Now that Instagram has instastories, I donât really get what the purpose of Snapchat is? Why do people mess with it anymore? đ¤
Kylie is right, the update is horrible. Itâs harder to keep up with your friends because Snapchat made the Discover section, which is how they make their money with ads and channels and stuff, the main focus. I use it wayyyy less since the update.
What this tells me is how few people use Snapchat if they werenât aware of a crappy update until Kylie mentioned it. Whenever Facebook has a dud we hear about it instantly because such a wide range of ages use it and itâs connected to so many accounts. But Snapchat has such a heavy emphasis on younger users, who are notoriously fickle and are constantly looking for whatâs new. Itâs a hard audience to rely on.
I don’t think it’s that few people use Snapchat, it’s just really popular among high school students and college students and so it doesn’t get the high profile that Twitter and FB do.
FWIW, I heard about the new update and how terrible it was from my students.
Donât get me wrong, I donât doubt that thereâs a high rate of use amongst exactly that audience. But that took 2 weeks for news of a crappy update to get to the financial folks. It doesnât have the high profile of Instagram and FB because not as many people use it, and the challenge with anything that sonheavily relies on a young audience is thatâs an audience that is constantly looking for the ânextâ thing.
This is what happens when you have a business that relies so heavily on Influencers. Itâs so easy for people to just stop opening an App, and there are only so many silly ears you can add.
tee hee!!! agreed!
Sure she just added fuel to the fire that is Snap. When the did their new format ppl went maddddd! Seriously ppl complaining about it and so forth. My husband refuses to invest in Snapchat stock as he says it has no staying power compared to Facebook/Instagram so not worth the financial risk. We both donât use it and continue to live a happy existence so kinda donât care what happens to it
I used to like snapchat, but now with Instagram stories…. My niece ( age 17) still uses it,
This flash-in-the-pan individual does not influence the world economy.
Uh-oh, is that Miranda Kerr’s heels I hear running toward the next nearest billionaire?
Hahahahaha! I was going to make a snarky comment about Lady Miranda, but there’s no need now!
I’ve never used Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram or anything else like them, so I’ve absolutely no idea what all the fuss is about. Kylie looks so much better without the troweled-on slap amd massive eyebrows. Let’s hope the new baby is her main focus from now on.
I don’t think you’re missing much at all…way to go!!! Limiting a-social media saves lives!
Annakist- Not likely that her new focus is the baby. Look at the caption for the second picture. She already is using the kid to promote products, claiming her latest makeup collection is inspired by her newborn infant. She probably chose that name with promotions in mind.
Also she has already “shared” a picture of the baby. Looks like she is right back in with the Kardashian Empire.
Ouf! You just gave me the biggest laugh I’ve had all day!!
People stopped using snapchat because their new update sucked. The story went with the messages and itâs just bad. I rarely use it anymore after the latest update. Plus, IG has stories now which is easier to use. But snap has better filters though. IG tried but itâs just not good as snap.
Tried it once, too messy and confusing, assumed it was that way on purpose to keep the olds like me out. Maybe there is nothing wrong with the revamp, itâs just that relatively ancient users like Kylie are now too decrepit to understand how to use its cutting-edge updates.
Someone needs to check on Miranda.
I follow celebs on IG and they had the same complaint about the new Snapchat format and are not as heavily involved with it as IG. So, I think they and civilians factor in as well.
My Millenial BF uses Snapchat.
It’s weird, I don’t get it, and get off my lawn.
*shakes cane*
Her tweets sound like something a 13 year old would tweet. And she is raising a child? Scary thought…
I saw some article the other day that said Kylie reportedly thinks the baby looks just like her. I thought how is that possible? Kylie doesn’t even look like Kylie. Unless she means the baby looks like Kylie the original version and not Kylie 2.0.
Buiness articles have been reporting for months that Snapchat hasn’t made any profits for the past 2 years and the last 3 months have been disastrous .. meaning that it’s half the power of celebrity and half bad timing, the many complaints from customers who left in drove and some changes made inside the company.
I like Snapchat, itâs an easy way to send funny short videos to friends and the filters are fun too. I donât share on my story to often but I still like it
But everyone hates the new update! Itâs not just Kylie. People have complaining about it on social media for weeks! Mine hasnât updated yet, thankfully
I tried Snap once and I didn’t get the appeal. FB, Insta and Twitter are more than enough social media for me.
The new update really sucks ..
I really enjoy snap chat with my kids, husband, extended family and friends!! Itâs a easy way to send funny videos(filters) and stay connected. Twitter I never got into. I donât think snap is going anywhere. Every one of her sisters still snap 24/7! I would know since they changed the format and now the âtop celebsâ are on the homepage. I really like the different news snaps on there. Very informative and raw. World news in real time! That said, I dont really enjoy the update…but change isnât always fun. LOL