Snapchat is a popular social media platform that allows users to share photos and videos with their friends. Snapchat is widely used by people in India to share stories, communicate with friends, and explore various features such as filters, lenses, and geolocation-based features. Snapchat’s popularity in India has been growing steadily, particularly among younger demographics. Many Indian celebrities and influencers also actively use Snapchat to engage with their audience. Thanks to these added features, Snapchat has achieved a milestone with 200 million monthly users who actively use Snapchat in India.
The 200 million Mark
India undoubtedly is a fertile land for social media platforms because of its large population and mobile-first market (most people in India, access the internet through their smartphones, rather than desktops or laptops.) Tapping the potential of the Indian market and its audiences, many social media platforms have devised India-specific strategies and customisation to grow their user base.
Snapchat India also used maths to grow its popularity amongst social media users in India. The company offered a more localised experience on its platform through various means. The company invested in regional content initiatives and partnered with local names. Using its spotlight and stories feature, Snapchat tried to highlight the Regional content creators. The Indian audience is of course familiar with Indian creators and is curious to know more about them. This information through Snapchat, made them regular on the app and eventually kept them hooked to it.
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The Spotlight feature particularly has been an indispensable tool for Snapchat in increasing its footing in India among its audience. This growth has steadily helped Snapchat India touch newer heights and today, it has crossed the 200 million mark. With more than 200 million active users every month on Snapchat, the app has registered itself as a prime social media app in India.
The initial set back
Snapchat faced some initial challenges in India due to competition from other social media platforms as well as due to a controversy surrounding a statement made by its CEO, Evan Spiegel. In 2017 Spiegel said, ‘The app was not meant for countries like India and Spain but for rich countries.’ The controversy resulted in a significant negative sentiment towards Snapchat in India, and many users uninstalled the app as a form of protest.
It’s worth noting that Snapchat took steps to address the situation and regain the trust of Indian users. The company clarified that it valued all of its global users, including those in India, and emphasised its commitment to the Indian market. Snapchat introduced region-specific features, filters, and lenses related to Indian festivals and events, aiming to appeal to the Indian audience and regain their attention.
Today, Snapchat stands tall with 200 million active users every month and only seeks to grow further from here.
Plan of Action for the Future
During the press conference to celebrate their victory, Snapchat also made announcements with regard to new experiments it aims for the Indian audience. The biggest in this regard will be the Customised AI-powered Chatbot for Snapchat users who will act like a friend to the users. A spokesperson of the brand added, “My AI can recommend birthday gift ideas for your BFF, plan a trip for a long weekend or even suggest a recipe for dinner. Users can also customise My AI with their own unique name and select a Wallpaper for their Chats. ”
Snapchat also aims to explore and reap the benefits of Augmented Reality Filters that have already been a hit with Snapchat users. Most often the AR filters are used during festivals and other celebratory times attracting nearly 50 billion participants every month. Nearly 85% of Snapchat users in India use filters and lenses, to express themselves and how they are feeling that specific day.
Snapchat undeniably has been a prominent social media application for Indians to express themselves. The ability to communicate via pictures to date remains a cool idea, making it all the more relevant with changing times. As long as phones with better cameras will keep raiding the markets, Snapchat will continue to dominate the social media sphere.
