At its core, Snap (SNAP 4.71%) has always billed Snapchat as a messaging platform, where users share photos and videos as a way to communicate. For example, in a lengthy memo penned by CEO Evan Spiegel that leaked last year, the phrase "fastest way to communicate" appears 25 times. "We have also observed that communicating visually with real friends on Snapchat provides long-term value for our community," Spiegel added on the earnings call last month.
In recent years, Facebook's (META -1.12%) Instagram subsidiary has been demolishing Snapchat primarily by replicating the smaller company's most popular features, most notably -- and successfully -- with Stories. Instagram is preparing to take another messaging shot at Snap.
Image source: Getty Images.
Try, try again
The Verge reports that Instagram is working on a new messaging app known as Threads that is intended to encourage frequent sharing with close friends and family. Instagram had previously tested a stand-alone messaging app called Direct, which it killed off earlier this year following a public beta, in part because users didn't like having to switch between apps to access different features on the platform.
While Threads will still be a stand-alone app designed to complement the Instagram app, it will ask users for permission to automatically share all sorts of data with close connections, such as approximate location data and battery life, as well as traditional communications like texts, photos, and videos. (What could go wrong?) Facebook is currently testing out Threads internally, according to the report.
Communication is the fundamental driver for Snapchat engagement, and the platform is more popular within younger demographics like users ages 13 to 34 than Facebook or Instagram, according to Spiegel. Instagram is hoping to poach those eyeballs. Threads may or may not launch to the broader public, depending on how the internal test goes.
The bigger messaging picture
More broadly, Facebook is pinning the future of its core platforms on private messaging. "Today we already see that private messaging, ephemeral stories, and small groups are by far the fastest growing areas of online communication," CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a manifesto published in March. Improving privacy will entail reducing permanence and enabling end-to-end encryption, in Zuck's view.
At the same time, His Zuckness has laid out a plan to integrate all of its messaging platforms together into one unified service. The idea isn't without controversy: Disagreements over the direction of that strategy even reportedly contributed to the departure of Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and WhatsApp head Chris Daniels earlier this year. Facebook may still be experimenting with new ways for users to communicate, and it will probably find its footing as long as its number of messaging services never approaches Google's mess.
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