Increasingly popular as a conduit to young social app users is Snapchat’s developer platform. With its Tinder-like swiping interface for meeting new people and requesting to message them on Snapchat, Hoop—the newest Snap Kit smash—raised to No. 2 in the overall App Store charts this month. Unfunded French startup Dazz saw Hoop receive 2.5 million downloads in the first week after becoming viral.
The ability of Snap Kit to increase user lock-in for Snapchat is demonstrated by the fact that such an absurdly straightforward and well-established form of software was able to rise to the top of the charts so quickly. Because the developer platform enables other apps to leverage Snapchat’s login process and Bitmoji avatars, it gives consumers fresh incentives to create and maintain a Snapchat account. It’s the same approach that helped Facebook become ingrained in the internet, but this time it’s targeted at a younger demographic.
The 26-year-old co-founders of Dazz, Lucas Gervais and Alexi Pourret, said in the first interview about Hoop that the inspiration for the idea originated from observing user habits in their prior experiment on the Snap Kit platform. In 2018, they created the Dazz app, which let users to make polls and receive anonymous responses from friends. However, they soon realised that their 250,000 users “always ended up adding each other on Snap.” As a result, we made the decision to develop Hoop, an app for finding new Snap buddies, says Gervais.
Growing up in a French tiny town, Gervais and Pourret had been friends since they were two years old. They first connected with their two creators in high school and are currently marketing majors in college. They claim that through Hoop, they were able to “address everyone’s demands, from connecting people from other cultures to making lonely people feel better to simply boosting your Snapchat network.”
Hoop on iOS or Android first resembles Tinder exactly. You register for an account, add some images, and fill out your bio before browsing profiles. If you like someone, you can message them by tapping a Snapchat button to get their
The clever virality and monetization approach of Hoop is then made clear. Hoop limits your asks by requiring you to use its in-app “diamonds” currency rather than letting you continuously “swipe right” and approach people. You’ll need to earn extra diamonds once you’ve received around 10 requests to chat.
You accomplish this by inviting friends to download the app, inviting individuals you meet on Hoop to Snapchat, logging in daily, taking surveys, watching video ads, and completing offers such as joining up for streaming services or auto insurance companies. Diamonds are also exchanged for rating Hoop in the App Store, while this may violate Apple’s policies.
On January 24, these strategies allowed Hoop to reach No. 2 on the overall iOS chart and No. 1 on the Social Apps chart. It currently ranks No. 83 overall and No. 7 in the social category, ahead of applications like Discord, LinkedIn, Skype, and the newest Vine replacement, Byte. As of a week ago, Hoop has more than 3 million instals.
However, there are undoubtedly some issues. We are neither a dating or meeting app, asserts Gervais. We merely provide a convenient method for meeting new Snap buddies. However, as Tinder is not accessible to those under the age of 18, they can turn to Hoop instead. Fortunately, people over 18 cannot view profiles of persons under 18 and vice versa, and users can only view matches within their own age range. Users, however, are always able to change their age.
Snap Kit keeps startups lean
Building a firm with a small staff and minimal funding has become easier and easier thanks to tools like Amazon’s AWS. Another step in that direction is the capability of Snap Kit to allow developers to bypass the account creation and maintenance process. But even Facebook hasn’t managed to create anything that becomes instantly popular, despite the fact that it has helped companies like Zynga create enormous empires.
Yolo, a different Snap Kit app that allows users to receive anonymous answers to questions, rocketed to the top spot in May. It remains at No. 51 after seven months. This demonstrates that Snap Kit can provide more than simply short-lived download surges. The platform is described by Gervais as “a very strong tool for developers.”
I claimed that Snapchat’s anti-developer stance was a liability three years ago. It had to develop into a platform with a strong network of allies to protect it against imitators like Facebook and strengthen its position as a platform for teen identity. In fact, it accomplished just that. They wouldn’t have to copy its social network, sharing structure, or avatars if they were allowed to launch using its accounts, Stories, and Bitmoji; instead, they would draw attention to the originals.
If Snap can continue to create helpful developer tools, possibly by integrating augmented reality filters, real-world object scanning, and video calling into its platform, a Snapchat account may become a need for anybody who wants to use the upcoming wave of apps. The platform’s crown jewel, discovery and virality, might then appear. Developers looking for engineering and growth short cuts may join Evan Spiegel’s army by adding a section for promoting Snap Kit apps to Snapchat Discover.
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