Snap is currently testing a “simplified version of Snapchat,” CEO Evan Spiegel shared in a letter to employees published on Snap’s website Tuesday. The CEO aims to improve the platform’s accessibility and usability with this streamlined version. However, for those who recall Snapchat’s 2018 redesign, this announcement may not inspire much confidence.
Spiegel sought to boost employee morale with his letter on Tuesday following a difficult year for the company’s stock price, which has dropped nearly 50% in 2024.
“Investors are concerned that we aren’t growing faster,” Spiegel noted in the letter.
The “simplified” version of Snapchat might be an effort to appeal to senior citizens, who have traditionally found the app’s non-intuitive layout confusing. Younger audiences are much more receptive to Snapchat, as they appear to just click on the app. However, Snapchat has attempted to resolve these problems before.
Recall Spiegel’s admission on Snap’s 2017 earnings call that he had heard that “Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use,” especially for older people. A few months later, Snap released a significant redesign in an attempt to win back those users. Among other things, it inserted stories in between private conversations, which ultimately enraged more users than it did.
2018 saw 1.2 million people join a Change.org petition to “remove the new Snapchat update,” while prominent figures including Marques Brownlee, Chrissy Teigen, and Kylie Jenner voiced their displeasure. Worse yet, the makeover failed to draw in older users and alienated the platform’s younger user base, severely hurting ad views and income. Snap was rushing to undo some of the changes by May 2018.
Early trials of the streamlined design have been “directionally positive,” according to Spiegel’s letter from Tuesday. However, the CEO adds that “we will be thoughtful and deliberate about making a change of this magnitude.” He’s most likely referring to the disastrous 2018 redesign, which I’m sure Snap hasn’t forgotten.
The announcement of a new, simplified version of Snapchat was nestled within Spiegel’s broader reflections on Snap’s business strategy. He asserted that Snap’s foray into augmented reality glasses—known as Spectacles—would create a market without competition. Is he ignoring the existence of Meta’s AR glasses, Meta Ray-Bans?
In an attempt to boost Snapchat’s faltering ad division, Spiegel also introduced new ad placements called Sponsored Snaps and Promoted Places. Sponsored Snaps enable advertisers to send Snapchats directly to users’ chat inboxes, while promoted places allow advertisers to highlight destinations on Snap Map.
