Why the Google and Snapchat marriage made sense?

After news of Google’s attempted takeover of Snapchat surfaced last week, Silicon Valley was taken aback. Although the deal did not materialize, here is why a Google and Snapchat team has the potential to work.

First off, Google’s failure, time and again, to float a formidable social media platform of their own could have been one of the major motivations for the company to pay big money for Snapchat. Google and Snapchat had the possibility to gain redemption for the failure that Google Plus was!

Snapchat on the other hand has been facing tough times, with Facebook and Instagram doubling up to make life quite difficult for Evan Spiegel’s innovation. The company has so far withstood tremendous pressure from Mark Zuckerberg’s arsenal of platforms that now carry Stories in one form or the other.

Bloomberg reported Snapchat’s earnings have fallen short of expectations spelling more trouble to come for the company.

CNBC reported today that "Snapchat added 7 million daily users in the second quarter this year, which is 1 million less than the 8 million they registered in the first quarter. Snapchat now has 173 million user base, lesser than the 175.2 million predicted StreetAccount estimate."

How long can Snapchat withstand the pressure, continue to innovate, retain their user base from Instagram Stories, grow, and keep earning money? Who knows!

Thus, both Google and Snapchat could be the friend that they need to join forces and at least mount a challenge to Facebook inching towards social media dominion. Why could the Google and Snapchat marriage make sense? Let us look at some of the easily understandable reasons this quid pro quo could help Google and Snapchat scratch each other’s backs.

Why could the Google and Snapchat marriage make sense? Let us look at some of the easily understandable reasons this quid pro quo could help Google and Snapchat scratch each other’s backs.

The first and most obvious is that Google can finally own a social media platform that accepted and actually has a niche user base that considers it cool to be a part of. Google Plus is not the success it was intended to be, but Google has also failed at incorporating social features into YouTube, the closest thing they have to a successful social media platform. Also, Buzz and Wave were setbacks for the company.

The second benefit for Snapchat to be associated with Google is financial security and access to resources beyond their imagination. Google, a part of Alphabet Inc, a multibillion dollar corporation can offer resources that are equivalent to, if not more than what Facebook offers Instagram.

Now let us delve into some not so obvious benefits that Google and Snapchat could enjoy if a bid were to be made today, considering Snapchat’s ongoing downward spiral.

Data, data, data and more data

Snapchat stands to gain a lot from Google’s data reserves as Business Insider’s Kevin Tran writes, “Snap would have more to gain from Google’s data and advertising technology, though Google would no doubt benefit from some of Snap’s technology too. For example, Snap’s acquisition of social mapping company Zenly and partnership with Factual could bolster Google’s ad campaign attribution capabilities.”

Snap’s technology could help Google’s existing or future products too

Snapchat’s Stories in Search could help Google develop an interesting new search engine like Snapchat curates them based on User Generated Stories.

“Users can use Stories in Search to view how crowded a certain business or event is. Google could consider integrating Stories in Search into its web search engine.” writes Kevin Tran from Business Insider.

Google could gain some headway with the millennial population

This is something even Facebook struggled with, which forced them to attempt and fail to acquire Snapchat, due to which Instagram Stories was born. Snapchat although maintains their core audience of 18-24-year-olds, a goldmine for social media platforms.

Snapchat has one of the most superior chunks of user base among the youth. Image Source

With Snapchat, Google could finally have the loyalties of the younger demographic and learn from Snapchat’s strategies to incorporate more youth friendly features into YouTube, or any other platform they choose to develop in future.

Snapchat’s hardware game could benefit from Google’s progress in the category

TechCrunch’s Josh Constine writes, “Together, they could align their Google Glass and Snap Spectacles hardware efforts to build a powerful but appealing AR device. However, Google’s open, engineering-driven culture could clash with Snap’s secretive, design-driven culture.”

Although as things don’t always work out for the best, had Snapchat accepted Google’s mammoth offer of $30 billion, there was a chance of things going downhill.

The Next Web’s Rachel Kaser offers a refreshing point of view at how the Snapchat we know and love could never have become what it is, “..many of the things we take for granted about Snapchat now — such as Memories, Spectacles, and plenty of its original content — came about after the alleged deal would have happened. Everything we currently know about Snapchat could have been changed to accommodate Google’s engineers.”

So there you have it, a glorious 'What If' to look at.

What are your thoughts about the positives and negatives that could come out of a Google and Snapchat team? Let us know in the comments or write to us at team@socialsamosa.com