Though Snapchat – and its valuation haircut – got the lion’s share of the headlines as the year began, it looks like the story might be starting to turn. As it turns out, Snapchat is gaining the right traction with the right users, and (for a bonus) it is gaining that traction at Facebook’s expense.
As it turns out, the ladies love Snapchat.
This comes according to a recent YouGov report which determined that the women of generation Y love all types of social media, including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, but that they are using Snapchat far more than their male counterparts these days. As of fall 2015, the use was about even, but since January of this year the usage of Snapchat has started skewing very female and was at 29 percent (male) to 48 percent (female) by March of 2016.
So what happened?
According to AdWeek’s expert Lauren Berger, the use case has subtly shifted.
“At first, millennial men were using Snapchat to communicate with friends, capture funny moments and share inside jokes,” Berger said. “Once word got out that brands cared about spending money on Snapchat, the popular fashion bloggers and celebrities who used to covet Instagram flocked to the social platform. These VIPs are using Snapchat to capture their busy days, trendy clothes and fancy lifestyles — with them comes the millennial female — eager to get what feels like a behind-the-scenes look at their favorite celebs and personalities.”
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The female end of Gen Y matters, because it is made up of the more affluent and more spending enthused. Thus, the more valuable to potential advertisers, which is important to Snapchat as it attempts to monetize its popular but not revenue-generating site.
