Snapchat’s recent redesign has generated an unseemly amount of negative headlines ranging from the million-person petition, a massively viral meme, and even a potentially stock-altering tweet from Kylie Jenner. CEO Evan Speigel recently shot down the idea of reverting the redesign, but also revealed why the change had been implemented at all.
“We believe that the redesign has also made our application simpler and easier to use, especially for older users,” Spiegel explained. And, though the younger demographic (Snapchat’s core) has since decreased, Speigel also added that there has been an equally dramatic increase in time spent on the platform among users over 35. “We’re excited about what we’re seeing so far,” Spiegel said at Goldman Sachs Internet and Technology Conference two weeks back.
Finally, Speigel added that they’ve felt validated about the changes they’ve made from the complaints. He referenced the separation of Stories away from regular ‘friends’ as a major complaint. Users no longer felt like celebrities were their “friends” because their Stories were in a separate area which Speigel noted as a positive change seeing as those celebrities weren’t their real friends anyway. 
It remains to be seen what Snap Inc. will roll-out next for its flagship product, but either way they’ll have to find a way to keep on pushing the product in the eyes of the older demographic without further betraying their core users.
H/T: Fool
