Snapchat was developed by two Stanford graduates, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. They were trying to develop a disappearing photo service that would allow users to send photos that would disappear after a short period of time.

In May 2012, Reggie Brown brought an image-sharing app called Picaboo and the idea of disappearing messages to Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy after having problems with his girlfriend who had been sent an inappropriate picture from Brown's phone. Brown became an early employee at Snapchat when they accepted his pitch to develop a new application that allowed users to send pictures that disappeared in 10 seconds or less.

The app was originally called Picaboo, which was released on September 23, 2011. The app's user interface design was based off of the iPhone's camera function at the time. The app gained popularity among users because of its features like speed and simplicity. It also allowed for users to add text or drawings on top of their photos before sending them out as messages to friends or family members through the app's messaging system. In December 2011, Picaboo raised $485k from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital after they saw potential in building their business around the idea of disappearing messages that could disappear within seconds after being sent out by users through the app.

Picaboo was later acquired by Snapchat in March 2013 for $54 million and it was integrated into the app as a new feature called Memories. Snapchat has continued to grow and innovate. In the summer of 2013, they introduced a new feature called “Chat 2.0” which introduced video chatting into their messaging system. Users could now send each other short videos that would disappear after being viewed by their friends in just a few seconds.

This was a major innovation, because it changed the way people viewed video chatting. Previously, users had to download an app like Skype or FaceTime in order to chat with their friends on video. Now Snapchat had made this feature more accessible and easier to use than other apps. In March of 2014, Snapchat introduced a feature called “Discover” which allowed users to read content from various media outlets. These publishers could create mini-magazines that would be distributed through the app and would include videos, photos, text and other forms of multimedia content. This was another major innovation for Snapchat because it changed the way people consumed news and information. No longer did they have to go online or watch TV in order to get their daily dose of news—they could simply open up their messaging app and find out what was happening in the world right then and there.

In 2015, Snapchat continued to innovate and grow. The company released its first hardware product, Spectacles, and it also announced that it would begin selling ads. Snapchat's ad business would be called Snap Ads, and the company said they would appear in between stories or on the Discover page. Snap said they'd be "designed to capture your attention in an entertaining way." The company also added a new feature called Snapcash that allows users to transfer money between contacts. In an earnings call with investors, CEO Evan Spiegel said there were two main things the company wanted to focus on in 2015: building out its ad business and making sure its app is fast and reliable. He said he wants to "make sure that we're not just building for scale but for delight.”

In 2016, Snap Inc. (the parent company of Snapchat) filed for an IPO. The company's S-1 filing revealed that the company had 166 million daily active users in the second quarter of 2016. That was up from 128 million DAUs at the end of 2015 and just under 100 million DAUs at the end of 2014. From 2016 onwards, Snapchat began to decline in growth. In 2017, it reached 173 million DAUs, which was still a gain over the previous year. But by 2018, that number had fallen to 158 million DAUs — a loss of 15 million DAUs in just two years' time. Snapchat has also failed to maintain its growth rate among its most valuable demographic: teens and young adults between 13 and 24 years old. According to Piper Jaffray's most recent semi-annual survey of US teens (Q2 2019), Snapchat has lost about 10% of its market share in this age group since Q4 2018 — from 27% down to 19%. Facebook is now the dominant social network among teens and young adults: 59% said they used it most frequently in Q2 2019, compared with 37% who said they used Snapchat most frequently — a 22-point gap.

Snapchat introduced a new in-app tool, the family center, to help parents keep their teens safe on Snapchat. The Family Center allows parents to monitor their children's activity on Snapchat and take action if they see something they don't like. The app also has a feature called Snap Maps that shows where your friends are at any given time. This makes it easier for parents to keep their kids away from dangerous places or people, but it also raises some concerns about privacy and safety.

With the increasing popularity of Snapchat over the years, it’s only sensible that we discuss the risks associated for young people. With the disappearing photo and video message feature of the app, concerns have grown that many pedophiles have easy access to send explicit messages to young people.

Our mission at The Frog Initiative is to spread awareness of digital well-being and support people to find a balance with technology. For more information, please visit our website at https://froginitiative.org/

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