With a market value of $25 billion and 150 million daily active users, Snap (formerly Known as Snapchat) is arguably the hottest social product in the world.

Take a look at Snap’s product evolution in three charts




  • When Snap launched in 2011 as Picaboo, it was an iOS only image social app
  • Snap changed its name to Snapchat
  • Over 1000 daily active users. Note: Snap clearly states in the prospectus that daily activity counts as one daily activity if a registered user opens Snap at least once in a 24-hour day
  • In 2012, Snap hit 100,000 daily users before launching an Android version.
  • By 2013, the number of daily activities had exceeded 1 million, and the video function was eliminated, allowing users to send pictures and video messages.




  • Stories Snap launched Stories (similar to Moments)
  • Smart Filter & Replay
  • In early 2014, it hit 50 million users and quit Chat, allowing users to send text messages
  • Live Stories was launched
  • Geofilter, users can now attach location information
  • Online advertising function

  • Online Discover function
  • Lenses 
  • Daily active users exceeded 100 million
  • internationalization
  • On-demand Geofilters, Chat 2.0, Memories, Bitmoji launched in 2016
  • The event is a Spectacle with 150 million visitors a day and a Groupchat

Then, in 2017, Snap went public on Nasdaq and changed its name to Snap. But in its prospectus, Snap announced to the world that it was a camera company. Snapchat also dropped “chat,” leaving only Snap.

Snap Inc. is a camera company.

We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way that people live and communicate. Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

In the way that the flashing cursor became the starting point for most products on desktop computers, we believe that the camera screen will be the starting point for most products on smartphones. This is because images created by smartphone cameras contain more context and richer information than other forms of input like text entered on a keyboard. This means that we are willing to take risks in an attempt to create innovative and different camera products that are better able to reflect and improve our life experiences.



It makes sense for Snap to do this, as we can see from Snap’s product evolution path and current product structure, the camera is Snap’s everything and foundation. I have always believed that by carefully observing the shape and structure of a product, we can deduce the team’s understanding of a particular need and market. The shape of the product is the physical description of the team’s values. Next, I will talk about the main product logic and values of Snap from several main functions of Snap.

Logic 1: Camera is the most natural and efficient expression on mobile phones

In terms of the efficiency of information transmission, it is well known that text < picture (voice) < video, while mobile terminals are naturally suitable for such information input methods as photo taking, voice recording. It is very troublesome to input text on mobile terminals. Creating photo or video social apps on mobile is a no-brainer. Here’s another thing: why does Snap open the camera by default? A natural attribute of the expression of photographing and recording is the timeliness of recording. Many scenes and pictures are fleeting. Once passed, you will have no chance to record, let alone express. The first step in expression is capturing a scene that would be hard to imagine without Snap’s core users.

Logic 2: Expression matters

I understand that the essence of social interaction is the acquisition of information, but self-expression is also a way to obtain information, a very strong need. 1) Minimize the cost of expression. Snap uses the camera to help users express themselves in a way that takes almost no thought (is it painful to organize words in moments?). Just take pictures of what you see. And adding Lenses, Bitmoji, etc., makes it more interesting and lively. Oh! This is a great way to reduce the cost of expression! 2) Be friendly to the speaker. An obvious feature of snapchat, Story and other functions is to increase the timeliness of messages. In communication studies, there is a concept called “context collapse”. It means that anything we post online may have an infinite audience and readers, and you have no control over who the audience and readers are. There is no context and no adaptation compared to face-to-face communication. This is disadvantageous to the information sender, so many people will lower their desire to express. The functions of “allowing friends to view their moments for six months” and “allowing friends to view their moments for the last three days” launched by wechat moments are also based on this problem. Community is limited to 15 people. We all have experience. The number of people in a group has a great influence on their desire to express themselves. The more people there are, the less they want to speak and the more cautious they are.

Logic 3: Truth

Snap’s videos are directly in full screen, and there are no Frances, giving the entire viewing experience a very immersive, immersive feel. “Jump into other people’s experience,” says Evan Spiegel, founder of Snap. Of course, the rich details of the photos and videos naturally have a strong sense of reality. Although disappearing after reading is the feature that makes the whole product known to people, it is not the core. This feature still extends the sense of reality and protects the expressor. What we have said in offline social communication immediately disappears into the air, so online messages should also disappear into the network route in the same way. When we check moments or weibo, several moments of the same friend may tell a complete story, but the design of moments causes us to read the story in reverse chronological order, which is very contrary to the natural law. The stories in Snap are arranged in chronological order, which is very natural.


Above, I deduce the logic from Snap’s product form backwards, there is a large possibility that Snap team does not think this way. (ha, ha, ha

Finally, I want to answer a question that many people have asked: Why isn’t There a Snapchat in China?

1) In terms of age characteristics, the group with “strong desire for expression” should be similar in both foreign and domestic countries, mainly teenagers. 2) But in China, is this group first exposed to smartphones or desktop computers? (This will affect their expression habits, desktop gays naturally love typing.) 3) Even if they have access to smart phones, can they hold and use them freely? As a completely mobile phone based communication tool (Snap), if it is not held all day long, it will not be used, relationships will not settle, and activity will not last. 4) Does this group have enough time and energy to experience colorful extracurricular life? If there is little, there is no desire to record and share

Obviously, in China, the teenagers before and even including universities do not have the above conditions at all, so there will not be a Snap.