Yesterday, we reported on Snapchat saying “œno thanks“ to Facebook‘s incredible $3 billion offer to buy the budding messaging app.
Many thought it was a crazy offer to turn down, but wasn‘t it a crazy offer to start with? What is the real reason Facebook is so intent on owning Snapchat?
Well, to put it bluntly, it‘s because they‘re nervous. In actual fact, Snapchat is quite the competition for Facebook – even though they carry the label of the “˜world‘s largest social network‘.
One of the biggest reasons Facebook grew to be so popular, was because of it‘s photo sharing. Tagging yourself or your friends in a Facebook photo almost became a daily adventure. Sharing pictures of your life, your friends and your family became an exciting way to show off your world.
However, with the many emerging photo sharing apps rearing their heads, Facebook is sitting with a little bit of a dilemma: their biggest driving force is slowly slipping away right before their eyes.
Another photo sharing app, that gained huge popularity very quickly, is Instagram. A social network designed specifically for photo sharing – it hit the nail right on the head.
Facebook quickly took note of Instagram‘s growing popularity – and possibly the fact that people would rather share a photo on Instagram, than Facebook. And, as we all know, Facebook acquired Instagram for (what seemed like at the time) another ridiculous amount of money.
But Instagram wasn‘t nearly as big of a threat as Snapchat is – hence the heavier price tag they put on their offer.
Check out the graph below; it illustrates the share of average daily photo uploads among the top 4 photo sharing sites. And here‘s the shocker – out of 758 million photos uploaded everyday, 1% is shared on Flickr, 7% on Instagram and finally, Facebook and Snapchat are tied at 46% each.
It put things in perspective and explains why Facebook is as determined as a stubborn Jack Russel in their acquisition of Snapchat.
However, photo sharing is not the only piece of Facebook being attacked by smaller startups. Many startups are attacking Facebook vertically by going after one part of Facebook’s many popular services.
The same can be said for Instagram and Snapchat. Both saw the huge potential in sharing photos, created their own version, and added a special hook to it – Instagram with the option to edit the photo and Snapchat with it‘s disappearing act.
Facebook is currently in panic-mode, and that‘s why flinging around $3 billion now, will ensure an even better future for them. But, with Snapchat not looking to budge anytime soon, the question has to be asked: Will Facebook be toppled?
