All Snapchat needs in Zimbabwe is a bundle or lower data costs, the rest is already covered

Snapchat is arguably the most entertaining social media platform on the market right now. The platform has gained a meteoric rise to popularity over the past two years by becoming the go-to app for most teens and young adults interested in sharing and consuming each other’s real-time life experiences over 24hrs in a picture and video formats across the world.

Note, we said entertaining, not biggest!

However, nobody really knows what Snapchat is. It’s kind of a cross-between-everything platform that caters to all your entertainment interests in one dose. Getting into a “what is it” debate with a heavy Snapchat user will most likely end with them showing you their Snapchat leading to your own aha! moment (even if you still don’t get).

We found the best way to explain/understand Snapchat is through the words and vision of its CEO Evan Spiegel below:

Don’t get us wrong, the lack of concrete understanding/definition of Snapchat does not hinder its use or popularity by any means.What we have come to realize is that nobody really cares what it is. More important is what it does, and it does it best! A technical explanation removes the essence of its use and should be left to shareholder meetings.

So genius is Snapchat’s model we have seen social media giants Instagram (Instagram Stories), Facebook (filters and stickers) and most recently Whatsapp (also filters and stickers) copy/replicate/steal the Snapchatty way of social networking.

In Zimbabwe, Snapchat has seen a slow but noticeable adoption rate. Zimbabwean Snapchatters brave the high costs of data to get their daily dose of Snaps typically relying on Econet’s 250mb daily bundle or One Fusion’s data allowance for now. That, and Zimbabwean mobile subscribers being “shepherded” into only accessing to Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp through social media bundles have limited Snapchat’s growth.

One can only wonder if SnapChat had a social media bundle would it overtake these platforms in popularity? Probably not, or at least it would take some time, but in terms of entertainment, Snapchat offers the most immersive user experience on social media by placing you right into someone’s life giving you access to what they are doing and not just what they have done.

Snapchat has a serious case of potential social media market disruption, however, we are yet to see how this service can fit into the Zimbabwean ecosystem. The Snapchat user base has to grow for it to have as much impact as it enjoys in 1st world and developing countries and as we have mentioned time and time again, data costs have to be revised downwards!

Most notable Zimbabwean presence on Snapchat is 263Connect, which allows Zimbabweans (young and old) across the world a day of hosting. Sharing their daily activities with other Zimbabweans or anyone else interested,  the host is able to dive into any topics, activities or even market their own products whilst interacting with the growing 263Connect community.

Sharing their daily activities with other Zimbabweans or anyone else interested,  the host is able to dive into any topics, activities or even market their own products whilst interacting with the 263Connect community.

We recently interviewed the founders of 263Connect and will be publishing it soon!