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Snapchat Snaps Up SXSW

I came across a tweet earlier this week which prompted a double-take. Want to experience your own jaw-drop? Here you go:

I beg to Snap.

While I respectfully posted a comment expressing my disagreement with the writer, I couldn’t stop there. Nay, I shan’t stop there. I need to speak out for the truth and Snapchatters everywhere who are wondering where in the world Forbes was this past week. Let us begin.

8B (that’s billion) per day.

Before SXSW even got under way, Snapchat reported 8 billion videos being watched on its app per day. (That’s more than Facebook reported.) Even with Facebook’s larger number of users, Snapchat can tout 100 million daily users generating that much content.

If you’re wondering how many users are on Foursquare, TechCrunch reports them at around 55 million accounts (that was before Foursquare.com allowed visitors to use the platform without signing up).

Snapping up sessions.

SnapXSW Session of Influencers | Really Social Blog
(Left to Right): Frank Danna, Robert Scoble, Sunny Lenarduzzi, Virginia Salas Kastilio, Brian Fanzo

When you search “Foursquare” on SXSW.com, you come up with one result. That session isn’t even about Foursquare, but rather points to a record being set via 4sq back in 2012.

Conversely, a search for “Snapchat” on the same site generates 23 results… and those are just the sessions which were officially listed. I had the opportunity to attend an impromptu, unofficial session which was packed with SXers ravenous for insights about using Snapchat.

Sidewalk Snaps

::Anecdotal Warning:: If you weren’t already aware, attending SXSW means a fair amount of walking between venues to get to sessions, parties, eateries, and so on. I did my fair share of pounding the pavement (roughly 12K steps per day per my Fitbit) and couldn’t get from one place to the other without hearing “Snapchat” being uttered somewhere around me. It was everywhere. Even sessions which weren’t necessarily about Snapchat wound up including it in the discussions on influencers, new content marketing, and narrative trends.

Snapchat Wins.

Here’s the thing: everyone is entitled to their opinion. In mine, I actually dig Foursquare + Swarm; before SXSW, I absolutely used that combo more than I ever touched Snapchat. I still intend to.

But, in my opinion, the clear winner of SXSW 2016 – in the sense of complete smackdown – is Snapchat.