Why Is It Called Snapchat? – Here’s Everything We Know

Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. All these were students at Stanford University. Snapchat wasn’t Snapchat, in the beginning, it was named Picaboo (Pic-a-boo) by this trio. This application stands for its uniqueness and different features than the rest of the apps available in the market. Have you ever wondered why is it called Snapchat?

The pictures and messages are available to watch only for a small duration of time for the users. Once they see it, it snaps. The messages and pictures disappear into the thin air.

This app was initially released in September 2011. By December 2020, this giant had 265 million users. On an average basis, 4 billion snaps are sent every day and the number of users of Snapchat is between 16 years to 19 years leading to a serious privacy concern to their parents.

Why Is Snapchat Called Snapchat?

Reportedly, this is the story of Snapchat when Brown brings the idea to his other mates to develop an app that would store nothing. An app that makes all the videos, photos, and messages disappear on the site after a duration of time. This had changed the way humans communicating online.

Spiegel found this idea quite interesting and wanted to work on it to see the public response. That’s why they contacted Bobby Murphy so that he can write a code to build the app. Murphy and Siegel launched the app in 2011, forcing Brown to leave the company and renamed it Snapchat.

They renamed it because Picaboo was also a photobook company’s name and it was causing legal issues to them. Before renaming it, when Picaboo was just created it wasn’t going as expected. So, they took Brown’s suggestion to take advantage of its “Not storing any data” uniqueness into a benefit for teens as a sexting app. And it really worked out that way.

Both Siegel and Murphy were still in the junior year of their colleges at Stanford University. Brown settled on $157 million but still, he has been credited as the co-founder of Snapchat. In 2013, Spiegel explained why this company is so popular among youngsters. It was simple as they didn’t want any of their social media history to come back to haunt down their lives.

Even Google and Facebook offered some big chunks to this giant to own them but they turned them down. And they really wouldn’t regret their decision of doing so.

Why Is Snapchat Logo A Ghost?

Spiegel explains that the Ghost logo is called “Ghostface Chillah” as a tribute to U.S. rapper Ghostface Killah who was a group member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Spiegel himself was a fan of rap culture.

Timeline of Snapchat

2011 April – The idea to create Snapchat was suggested by Reggie Brown then later followed by Murphy and Siegel.

2011 July – Snapchat first launched by the trio from Spiegel’s father’s living room from the name Picaboo, as an iOS-only app.

2012 May – Snapchat started processing about 25 images a second, per day.

2012 October – Snapchat claims that their users are sharing about 20 million images per day or around 231 per second. In comparison, at the time when Instagram had 10 million users, it processed only 25 photos.

Snapchat In 2012

About the Founders

Bobby Murphy – He was born on July 19, 1988, in California. Bobby Murphy is an American entrepreneur, software engineer, and the CTO of Snapchat. He pursued his education at Stanford University.

Evan Siegel – He was born on 4 June 1990 in Las Vegas, United States. Siegel is an American businessman and also the co-founder and CEO of Snapchat. Spiegel was the youngest billionaire in 2015. His net worth was US$11.9 billion (February 2021).

Reggie Brown – Reggie Brown was the original founder but he is no more in the company. He settled on 157 million dollars. Although he is still doing legal activities to get one-third of the company.

Conclusion

This giant has a very interesting history and this app is extremely famous and successful worldwide. So, now you know why is Snapchat called Snapchat. And, if you like the above article, let us know in the comment box below.

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