Some of Snapchat‘s most popular users appear to be fleeing to Instagram because of the money earning potential on the platform, recent reports indicate. One of the major differences between Snapchat and Instagram is the amount of data provided to users; in the case of Snapchat, it’s impossible for users to know their exact number of followers. Instead, users are forced to base their following estimates on the number of views each story receives, which even then is only available for viewing for 24 hours, essentially meaning the only way of tracking numbers is by screenshotting views just before the 24-hour mark. In the case of Instagram, though, it’s a completely different story.
On Instagram, the number of users somebody has is clearly stated and, thanks to business accounts, the number of views their Stories receive is available to see for up to 14 days. Aside from this, the Facebook-owned platform also serves people with business accounts with various statistics such as the best hours and days to post, the number of impressions their profile received in the past week, follower demographic details, and much more. Snapchat, on the other hand, provides none of this and it is causing many influencers to leave the platform in favor of Instagram, where they can not only track each post more efficiently but also earn much more money with no extra effort. This, coupled with the fact that Instagram now directly competes with Snapchat thanks to its Stories feature, clearly shows the decrease in importance Snapchat is seeing among all users, influencers included. In fact, data shows that posts from influencers dropped 20 percent on Snapchat in the first three months of 2017, while Instagram saw its popularity increase 11 percent. As well as this, the data also suggests that lifestyle-focused daily Instagram Stories are increasing at 16 times the rate of those on Snapchat, which many industry watchers believe is a clear sign of slower growth rates the platform is seeing.
Due to that state of affairs, Snapchat is at risk of not only losing its influencers but also many other users who may be on the platform in order to get an insight into their favorite user’s daily life. Taking all of this into account, it may be time for Snap to rethink its Snapchat strategy and start catering more to users who keep many others entertained, a number of social media experts previously said.