Inside Snapchat's plan to woo Gen Z

Snapchat's co-founder says he isn't worried about competition from the likes of TikTok and Instagram.

Snapchat co-founders Bobby Murphy, left, and CEO Evan Spiegel ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange as the company celebrates its IPO. Source: Associated Press.

Snapchat's co-founder says he isn't worried about competition from the likes of TikTok and Instagram, telling The Australian that Snapchat users are generally more engaged and use the app for 'real connection' more than their rivals.

Speaking exclusively to The Australian, Snap co-founder Bobby Murphy said that his app's focus on communication between close friends – achieved through augmented reality and the app's heavy focus on the camera – means it will retain its popularity with Generation Z and millennial users.

Snap has sought to set itself apart from rivals for both users and investors, focusing on friendships rather than broadcasting to an open audience, and allowing it to avoid the misinformation and hate speech problems that have plagued Facebook and Twitter.

It’s also fighting for young, savvy smartphone users with China-owned video app TikTok, which opened an Australian office this week.

Snap’s shares have risen more than 50 per cent over the past year.

"It comes down to focusing on what differentiates us," he said. "Snapchat has always been about communication between real friends, and in many of our core markets we're an application that people use alongside other apps, not necessarily instead of," he said.

"The key difference between Snap and the investments companies like TikTok and Instagram are making in augmented reality, their core behaviours are centred around viewing content. Scrolling through a feed and watching other people's videos or looking at other people's photos.

"With Snapchat, because there's so much engagement with the camera, people are talking to their friends the way that they want to."

Snap last week used its partner conference to announce a slate of new features for its photo messaging app Snapchat, such as new original shows and ways for outside developers to create products that will entice users to spend more time using the app.

Snapchat is a video messaging application created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown Poster when they were students at Stanford University Photo: istock

It announced 10 new original shows, including “Coach Kev” starring comedian Kevin Hart who will share “daily doses of positivity and wisdom,” and “Queen of Stylez,” a documentary series that follows celebrity hairstylist Tokyo Stylez.

The new shows mean Snapchat will go head-to-head with new app Quibi, which has landed a lot of venture capital investment but has struggled for momentum amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Honestly we were excited and inspired by a lot of the content Quibi has made", Mr Murphy said." We have our own agenda and road map and priorities around mobile-first content, but I don't think we expect ourselves to be the only entrant in the space.

"We hope there continues to be interest from Quibi and others in mobile-first content."

During a webcast for Snap’s Partner Summit, Snap also said it will add an “action bar” to make it easier to navigate the app.

Users will now be able to find local businesses on its Snap Map feature, which will open up new ways for Snap to make money by allowing companies to promote their business.

The company also launched Snap Minis, which will allow outside developers to build experiences inside the Snapchat app. For example, popular meditation app Headspace will introduce a mini version inside Snapchat, allowing users to do quick meditations and send encouraging messages to their friends.

Mr Murphy, who was named the second-youngest billionaire in the world by Forbes in 2015, said it was 'a lot of fun' co-founding the company alongside Evan Spiegel – who is now married to Aussie model Miranda Kerr – and Reggie Brown.

The co-founder now serves as Snap's chief technology officer.

"One of the core challenges was just the fact we were doing something totally different," he said. "At every stage of growth, we've encountered people out there that didn't get what we were trying to do, or why we were doing it. I had a hard time convincing investors that there was anything of value to what we're doing.

"But it's been a lot of fun for sure."

Snapchat announced this month it would stop promoting posts from US President Donald Trump and that his content would no longer feature in the app's Discover section, but Mr Murphy declined to further comment.

Additional reporting: Reuters.