Snapchat has just reached an important milestone: 150 million people now use the app each day. This means they boast more daily users than Twitter by a significant margin. Twitter does not release official figures, but Bloomberg estimates its numbers to be under 140 million.
In December, Snapchat had just 110 million active daily users, which means the platform’s user base grew by more than 35 percent in only five months. This growth is being viewed as a very positive sign as rival Twitter’s user base stagnates. Twitter’s total user base grew by just 3 percent globally according to its latest financial report, and no growth whatsoever was noted in the U.S.
Discover Tab overhaul could come next week
This makes now a better time than ever for Snapchat to overhaul its branded Discover section. The redesign will make it similar to Instagram, with a feed-based list of content. Discover currently boasts nearly 20 publishers, including BuzzFeed, CNN, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Mail, and ESPN. These publishers have reportedly already received an exclusive preview of the new design.
Right now, media outlets can only advertise channels using small round icons featuring their logos. After the redesign, they’ll be afforded bigger, magazine-like tiles within the app. Several new Discover partners are expected to be added when the redesign launches.
Discover is featured prominently in the Snapchat app just above the sections for Live Stories and Stories Created By Friends. According to Snapchat, 60 million people use the Discover tab each month. Snapchat allows users to subscribe to their favorite Discover Stories so they can stay on top of all of the latest updates, and they’ve also made it easier for users to share the content posted on their favorite channels via platforms such as iMessage with a single click.
Snapchat has also reportedly been in talks with ComScore to come up with better ways for media owners to measure content consumption.
The move comes as the battle for video views heats up between Snapchat and other platforms. Snapchat serves 10 billion video views daily, while Facebook notches up just 8 billion views a day. Instagram is also in the running, but they have not released any official figures.
According to VentureBeat, the redesign could be seen as early as June 7. Snapchat has not made any official announcements about the launch yet.
