I read an article about the new format of Snapchat today.
http://adage.com/article/digital/snapchat-s-big-impact-advertisers-publishers/306220/
Before Snapchat's most recent update, their "my story" streaming format entailed a constant stream of video content, flowing automatically on a user's my story from one video to the next. They thought they were being sneaky by embedding ads into the video streams, but us millennials caught on pretty quickly. Snapchat noticed a trend of people swiping through videos hastily, ultimately leading to a lack of engagement with the ads and all video content as a whole. This is a classic reaction to being bombarded with ads. Leave us alone ad people!!!
So long story short, Snapchat adjusted the format so that users can click on the content they truly want to consume, while ads still play at the end of the "story." What I thought was most interesting about this article was the piece at the end:
"There's also the possibility for new ad products. Snapchat could consider serving ads that look similar to messages inside the list of friends' stories."It's a likely scenario, selling sponsored stories that appear in the feed," said one advertiser.""
I think it's ridiculous for Snapchat to think users won't catch on. We are experts at identifying what an ad is. Do you really think trying to trick us is the best solution? It is already the case that we feel vulnerable to big company's trickery every time we see an ad. Granted, it's a pretty tricky situation. In my opinion, Snapchat needs to provide an incentive for people to watch the ads, not trick people into watching them. There have been studies that show that the type of ads people engage with the most consist of messages that do not promote the company's agenda, but promote a cause, or celebration of some sort. At some point, Snapchat should have the ability to filter the typology of messages, instead of accepting ads from any company who can afford to pay them $750,000 (or however much it costs). In other words, Snapchat could raise the standards for the ads that are run on their platform to include "significant proof of relevance" to their target audience. This would:
A) Create more potential for Snapchat ads to work
B) Put a ceiling on the number of ads a user can see so they don't feel like they're being bombarded with branded messages
C) Promote better advertising across the board
D) Differentiate Snapchat as the only social media platform that doesn't harass you with junk, making it more user-friendly compared to other platforms.
I do think that they would lose business initially. Yet, I think it's essential for the long-term success of brand building via social media.