Social media is something that has taken over all of our lives, its hard to find someone that doesn’t have at least 2 apps downloaded on their phone, or accounts to log into on their computers. In a busy lifestyle where it is harder and harder to keep in contact with friends, social media has become vital in trying to do so. It is no wonder that competition for social media is a fierce with each of them trying to come up with new ways to outdo each other.
Rising high up the rankings is Pinterest, perhaps not what is first thought of when talking about social media, but it has proven itself to be a strong contender. It has recently beat out Snapchat, perhaps the more obvious social media, to become the third largest platform in the US. This rise is predicted to continue growing over the next few years, with Pinterest expected to have 4 million more users by 2022, almost doubling its current lead.
Pinterest appeals more to all age groups and hails users much more consistently in any age. It has content that anyone would be able to find appealing, ranging from travel to exercise plans, the ability to save content, and perhaps most importantly, it’s easier for parents to monitor their children on. Snapchat, however appealing it may be as a teenager to young adult, quickly loses that appeal when it comes down to the variety of communication options. It’s fun to be able to send photos and messages and know that they will have no trace but ultimately it’s not useful when communicating with friends. Whilst Snapchat has brought in the group chat feature, possibly in an attempt to boost figures, it is not enough when compared to apps like Facebook Messenger and Instagram.
Snapchat’s botched redesign in February 2018 appears to be the start of its fall. With users complaining about the updates on other social media platforms and significant numbers of them quitting all together. It seems that they made the changes too much and too fast and people were unreceptive to this. This mistake made by Snapchat seemed to be exactly what Pinterest needed to start its growth, as well as the opportunity to learn from it. Any updates that Pinterest has rolled out have always been slow and responsive to user needs.
Overall Pinterest sells a lifestyle, whether that’s with recipes, craft ideas or fashion, Pinterest allows us to see ourselves as the best we possibly could. It’s easy, while scrolling through beautiful images, saving ideas and planning a brighter future, to pretend that you can be one of the people in the pictures and that you can easily achieve the goals you set yourself on your boards. Whereas Snapchat, focuses more on communication with friends, a highly competitive area of social media. Although it has the gimmick of chats and photos disappearing, there is little else it offers compared with other social media sites
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