Snapchat

Snapchat may be a trendy messenger app, but it's not ideal for news. 

Snapchat is an image messaging platform that became public in September of 2011. It's incredibly popular amongst millennials.

In an effort to reach a wider, younger audience to build company-loyalty amongst millennials, news organizations like Buzzfeed have bought space on the discovery page to boost its popularity amongst millennials.

How much news is consumed?  

Snapchat is not a popular news platform. In the Reuters 2017 digital news survey, it didn't list in the top-five social media platforms where people get their news in Canada or US. In this journalism.org article, Snapchat boomed in popularity, but still unpopular in comparison to Twitter or YouTube.

Facebook is the prime social-media platform when it comes to news. It has the largest user-base out of all social media platforms. Out of the 65% of US, adults use Facebook, 45% of them get their news from it. In a survey by the Pew Research Centre, only 5% of the 18% of  US adults get their news from Snapchat.

Why isn't Snapchat a more newsy site? 

Snapchat isn't very newsy; its discovery page is mostly content catering to a younger audience. There is a stigma surrounding the messaging app; sexting. 

The sexting stigma that app has is perhaps why the feeling of getting news from there as less credible. 

As well, in the same Pew Research Centre survey, they found 29% of the Americans who use snapchat have college, meaning the 74% that use it have a high school diploma or less. Minority higher-educated audience must compete with the less educated majority for content. Meaning companies buying ad space have to keep the majority of the users in mind. 

What does this mean for digital media? 

Snapchat isn't making a splash in the news world right now. As the user base expands the there is a possibility Snapchat could profit off of the news. With more of the younger generations getting interested in news, it could be beneficial to Snapchat to bring more credible news sources. 

Whats the Verdict?

Snapchat is a fun and trendy app, but it's not ideal for news. It carries a stigma that affects its credibility, also, it doesn't gather the demographics required to make news popular on the app.