Snapchat Close to 100m Daily Active Users

Snapchat SelfieSnapchat is close to hitting 100m daily active users in developed markets. The approaching milestone was revealed by CEO Evan Spiegel speaking at Re/code’s Code Conference last night. While barely a patch on Facebook’s 936m daily active users, Snapchat users are relatively prolific – Spiegel revealed recently that Snapchat’s users watch roughly half as many videos as Facebook’s users every day.

On that subject, Spiegel revealed that Snapchat has plans to change the way videos play back on the platform. Currently, users have to keep their hand on screen for the duration of the playback, but in conversation with with Re/code’s Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg below. Spiegel said:

“In order to view a video on our service you have to literally put your finger on the screen the whole time and obviously for us it’s been a huge sign of engagement, you have to really be holding your phone and holding your thumb on it, but it’s I think for us holding us back from longer piece of content, longer videos being viewed on our service, because it’s just kind of annoying to hold your finger there that long.”

When asked if Snapchat had plans to do something about it, Spiegel said: “We try not to ruin surprises but that may be on the cards.”

During the interview Spiegel also said that the firm had no plans to entertain another acquisition offer, saying that it’s more fun to stay independent. He also said he believed that we are currently in a tech bubble and that it would eventually burst.

“It’s a result of easy money policies, near zero interest rates, governments have printed a lot of money,” Spiegel said. “I think people are making riskier investments and I think there will be a correction. I don’t know when but it’s definitely something that we factor into our plans as we think about the growth of our business.”

You can see the interview here.