It’s no secret that TikTok has been the hottest and fastest growing social media network over the last several years. Their success has led others to build similar features into their platforms to compete, with few garnering a real following. Snapchat is the latest to enter the fray with its new Spotlight feature, set to rival TikTok with additional perks for content creators.
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Snapchat has been chugging along but have been unable to grow to the extent they were expecting when they launched Stories back in 2014. Within months other social media platforms copied the feature – most notably Facebook – and arguably took the shine out of something unique and innovative from Snap Inc.
With Spotlight, Snapchat hopes to use the same strategy and deliver something fresh in an ever more crowded space. It’s a new tab within Snapchat where users can watch Snaps (including short-form videos) submitted by other users of the platform. It will serve up these Snaps algorithmically, as has become the norm with masses of content, based on what users spend the most time watching and liking. Users can also click on hashtags within Snaps on Spotlight to see other Snaps around the same topic or event, as has become the norm across the industry.
A major difference with Spotlight when compared to its peers is a new incentive scheme. Snapchat will pay users whose Snaps go viral on Spotlight, over and above any ad revenue they may be earning from them. The company has committed to pay out more than $1 million per day to Snapchat users whose snaps do well within Spotlight (no indication of the upper bounds).
This new move will make the platform a lot more attractive to advertisers. It may entice users to stay on the platform more, giving advertisers to display their ads more often and more effectively.
