Leaked Snapchat DAU metrics from April to September 2017 show Snapchat is used mainly as a chat app, with Snap Maps' usage trailing off to ~19M since launch
Snapchat takes its secrecy seriously. Very, very seriously. — Take the case of one former Snapchat employee. Tweets: @joshconstine , @benbajarin , @itsren , @taylorlorenz , @noahshachtman , and @taylorlorenz Tweets: Josh Constine / @joshconstine : Snapchat is mostly a messaging app. Out of 178M users, just 34M open Discover (down a little since July) and Snap Map has steadily declined since launch to 19M users. Big problem: messaging is hard to monetize http://www.techmeme.com/... nice get by @TaylorLorenz Ben Bajarin / @benbajarin : Survey data we have suggests the same about Snapchat primarily being a chat app. http://twitter.com/... Ren LaForme / @itsren : “Data reviewed by The Daily Beast shows that users treat Snapchat more like a traditional chat app than a social-media platform or camera company” https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ... @taylorlorenz : I got DAU metrics for Snap Maps, Discover, Memories, Geofilters, Lenses, Chat, Audio, Stories, and more http://www.thedailybeast.com/ ... Noah Shachtman / @noahshachtman : .@Snapchat is the most secretive company in social media, withholding key stats from partners, investors & employees. @TaylorLorenz got months' worth of internal data—and it shows all is not well at Snap. SCOOP: http://www.thedailybeast.com/ ... @taylorlorenz : Snap map usage is abysmal https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ... pic.twitter.com/FZNzPPn4gs
Context & Ripple Effects
The leak lands mid-slump: Snap had just reported a Q2 2017 revenue miss against its own DAU guidance and followed it with a Q3 net loss swollen by a $39.9M Spectacles write-off. The internal numbers explain why investors were nervous — of 178M daily users, only 34M open Discover, and Snap Maps has bled down to ~19M since launch, meaning most of the audience sits in ephemeral chat, the hardest surface to sell ads against.
First-order effects
- Snap's ad business is confined to a minority of its own user base: with Discover reaching 34M of 178M DAUs, advertiser inventory depends on a slice of users an order of magnitude smaller than the headline number.
Second-order effects
- Management's response was the late-2017 redesign aimed at pushing users toward content — the same redesign later blamed when Snap posted its first-ever DAU decline in Q2 2018, showing the fix traded one engagement problem for another.
Third-order effects
- If chat-first usage holds, Snap's path back runs through making messaging itself monetizable rather than forcing users into Discover — the arc the 2019 return to double-digit revenue growth and rising DAUs suggests eventually worked, while the 2024 report of 414M DAUs alongside persistent net losses shows the monetization gap never fully closed.
The trend: Consumer social apps are splitting into a large private-messaging layer that resists advertising and a much smaller public-content layer that carries the monetization burden.