Snap CEO Says Company Tests Easier Version of Snapchat

In a letter to employees published on Snap’s website on Tuesday, CEO Evan Spiegel disclosed that the company is currently trialing a “simplified version of Snapchat”

According to the CEO, the simplified version enhances the platform’s accessibility and usability. This information may not inspire confidence in those who recall Snapchat’s 2018 redesign.

Spiegel’s letter on Tuesday was an attempt to invigorate employee morale following a depressing year for the company’s stock price, which has declined by nearly 50% in 2024.

Spiegel stated in the letter that investors are apprehensive about the company’s slow growth rate.

The “simplified” Snapchat may be an attempt to attract older users who have historically been perplexed by the app’s non-intuitive design. Snapchat is significantly more effective in attracting younger audiences, who appear to adopt the application intuitively. However, this is not Snapchat’s first attempt to resolve these concerns.

In 2017, Spiegel acknowledged during Snap’s earnings call that he had heard that “Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use,” particularly for older individuals. Months later, Snap implemented a significant redesign to regain the trust of those users. This redesign included the interposition of Stories between private messages, among other modifications that ultimately caused more users to become enraged than they had attracted.

Celebrity influencers such as Kylie Jenner, Chrissy Teigen, and Marques Brownlee expressed dissatisfaction with a 2018 Change.org petition to “remove the new Snapchat update.”

The petition garnered 1.2 million signatures. However, the redesign was even more detrimental, resulting in a decline in the platform’s ad views and revenue, which resulted in the alienation of its younger user base and the failure to attract older users. Snap was in a state of panic as it attempted to remove certain modifications by May 2018.

Spiegel writes in Tuesday’s letter that the simplified redesign has been “directionally positive” in its early tests. However, the CEO emphasizes that “we will be thoughtful and deliberate about making a change of this magnitude.” He is almost certainly referencing the 2018 redesign failure, which I am confident no one at Snap has forgotten.

The announcement of a new, simplified version of Snapchat was incorporated into Spiegel’s more general reflections on Snap’s business strategy. He asserted that Snap’s exploration of augmented reality glasses, which it refers to as “Spectacles,” would result in a market devoid of competitors. Is it possible that he is feigning ignorance by denying the existence of Meta’s AR glasses, Meta Ray-Bans?

Spiegel also disclosed new advertising placements, such as sponsored snaps and promoted places, to revitalize Snapchat’s struggling advertising division. The former enables advertisers to send Snapchats directly to users’ chat inboxes, while the latter enables advertisers to promote destinations on Snap Map.