We did some research and discovered the most bizarre Snapchat facts. These facts provide an understanding of what Snapchat is, where it came from, and who uses it.
Snapchat grew from a notion in Stanford dorm rooms to a multibillion-dollar company on the stock exchange throughout the course of its existence.
It has become the app of choice for many teens and young people, and it has pioneered both ephemeral social media postings and artificial intelligence filters.
After Facebook attempted to buy Snapchat for $3 billion in 2013, but the founders declined, the company decided to compete directly with the app.
Instagram (owned by Facebook) has since embraced ephemeral stories and AI-based filters to compete directly with Snapchat.
It mostly worked, slowing Snapchat’s market share and accelerating Instagram’s growth in recent years.
Table of Contents
1. On Snapchat, there are approximately two girls for every one guy
If you’re a guy on Snapchat looking for a girl to date, you have some good ratios. About 61% of Snapchat users are female, compared to 38% male.
It’s interesting there is such a difference in the proportion of women versus men. When comparing Instagram, the proportion of men versus women are nearly equal with only a fraction of a percent more women.
2. Snapchat has 310.7 million monthly active users
Breaking that down, over 60% of them use Snapchat every day at 190 million people. The US population is estimated at 327 million, meaning Snapchat is nearing having an active user base equivalent to the population of the United States!
3. Snapchat’s mascot is named Ghostface Chilla
The cute little ghost you see on the Snapchat app icon is named Ghostface Chilla. The name is based on Ghostface Killah from the Wu-Tang Clan.
Obviously, the founders were fans of the Wu-Tang Clan. To be honest, they’re not super popular today but do have an old school appeal.
8. Snapchat was the outcome after the founders failed 34 times
As is often the case, your first idea or business venture is not usually the one that hits the nail on the head. Snapchat co-founders admitted to failing 34 times at Stanford University as they sought out a new business idea. They eventually landed on the concept for Snapchat while working on a class final project.
9. The longest recorded Snapstreak was 1,814 as of May 2020
Snapchat does not actually keep track of snapstreak (it deletes all of the info) so there are no official stats about the longest snapstreak.
That being said, according to the TechJunkie leaderboards, the longer snapstreak as of May 2020 is 1,814 between two people named Daniel and Robin. We don’t have access to the videos, so we can only wonder what their snaps were about.
10. Your videos could stay in the Snapchat servers for up to 30 days
Snapchat claims to not save any videos, but they were called out by the FTC in 2013 for “misrepresenting” how they actually saved snaps. The answer is a bit more nuanced. Snapchat will save your videos on their servers for as long as they need to run the service.
Basically, yous snaps stay on the server until the recipient opens them.
Sometimes that can mean just a few minutes, other times up to 30 days. You can read all about Snapchat’s data-saving practices in the privacy policy.
11. Snapchat was downloaded over 75 million times in 2019 alone
2019 was a good year for Snapchat. The platform experienced major user growth (especially among the younger demographics) over the last two quarters of 2019.
Overall, the Snapchat app was downloaded more than 75 million times across all mobile platforms in 2019.
12. Snapchat was originally called Picaboo
When Snapchat first came out it was called Picaboo. But in 2012, a year after it was originally started, the founders renamed the app to Snapchat when they launched an Android version. That finally explains where the ghost icon comes from.
13. Over 3 billion snaps every day
One snap for every person in the world is created every ~2.5 days. Of the 3 billion snaps created every day, they add to the 14 billion Snapchat video views per day.
14. Snapchat is #1 for US teens
Of all the US teenagers, 41% of them said that Snapchat is their preferred platform of social media. What’s the second most popular app? Instagram at 35%, followed by Facebook and Twitter tied at 6%.
15. Snapchat generates roughly $320 million per quarter
In Q2 of 2019, Snapchat reported that they made $320.4 million. For every user, Snapchat makes an average of $1.68 in Q1 of 2019. This is largely from advertising revenue. By the same token, the average revenue per individual Snapchat user is about $2.58 as of the end of 2019.
16. Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel hooked up with Taylor Swift
It didn’t last very long but the famous singer Taylor Swift and Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel were once a couple.
Spiegel reportedly dumped Taylor Swift, although both sides have kept very quiet about it. Although, T. Swift has a history of writing songs about her breakups…
17. Snapchat makes people happy!
This is a big one, 95% of Snapchat users say that using the app makes them feel happy. Sometimes social media platforms can make people feel lacking. For instance, if you see friends having a great vacation on Instagram and you’re sitting at home. It’s good to hear of an app that truly makes people happy. The ability for people to share personal experiences is humanizing and intimate.
18. Snapchat is now Snap Inc.
Before launching Snapchat into the stock exchange, the company rebranded Snapchat to Snap Inc. This is believed to align with their new focus on much more than just their chat app. For instance, their augmented reality Spectacles that were released on the same day.
19. Companies are expected to spend $1.5 billion on advertising on Snapchat
The brands that are spending the most on Snapchat ads are Buzzfeed, Comedy Central, and iHeartRadio. Advertising on Snapchat is the companies #1 revenue source and has proved to be valuable for companies who want to reach a teenage and early 20s audience.
According to eMarketer, almost one-third (30.7%) of US-based marketers use Snapchat as part of their marketing campaigns.
Did we forget to mention your favourite fact about snapchat? Let us know in the comments!
