Topic
14 facts from 2 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2012
Spiegel says Snap was discussing privacy and self-expression as early as 2012, when most services saved everything.
“we were talking about things like the importance of privacy, right? And the relationship between privacy and self-expression, you know, back in 2012.”
2012
Spiegel says Norway was the first country where Snapchat gained traction.
“Norway was the first place that Snapchat got traction. I mean, we had no traction anywhere.”
2012
Spiegel's hypothesis for Snapchat's early success in Norway is the country's high-end phones and affordable, fast internet, which suited a photo-heavy iPhone-only app.
“I think one of our hypotheses is that Norway had both very high-end devices and great internet connectivity that was affordable for the population.”
2016
Spiegel says that around 2016 or 2017 Snap decided to separate social content from media content.
“I think back in, it may have been 2016, 2017, we said the most important thing you need to do is separate social from media.”
2025
Spiegel says Snap's team found that well over 1 trillion selfies were captured on Snapchat over the same period, more than the figure Snap announced publicly.
“they came back and they're like, oh, well over 1 trillion selfies have been captured on Snapchat.”
2026
Snap announced 25 million Snapchat Plus subscribers and a direct revenue business running at over $1 billion a year.
“We just announced we had 25 million Snapchat Plus subscribers, over a billion run rate on the direct revenue business.”
Undated
The hosts say Facebook failed to buy Snapchat after Mark Zuckerberg offered only about $3 billion.
“And Facebook wasn't able to buy Snapchat. Zach only offered three billion.”
Undated
Snap sells an advertising product called Promoted Places on its map, with closed-loop measurement of store visits.
“we've got a product called Promoted Places, and actually really powerful closed-loop measurement around that.”
Undated
Spiegel says the Snapchat camera is one of the largest image and video generation platforms in the world, partly monetized through the Lens Plus subscription tier.
“I don't think people realize that the Snapchat camera is one of the largest image and video generation platforms in the world”
Undated
Spiegel says Snapchat showed that value depends on the few people you talk to most, not on network size, countering the view that more friends meant more value.
“What Snapchat proved was actually that it's not about the size of your network or the number of people you can contact on your network.”
Undated
Spiegel says Snap was one of the first companies to rank content with AI, through its Discover service for publisher and creator content.
“We were one of the first companies to actually rank that content with AI, you know, with our service called Discover.”
Undated
Spiegel criticizes Australia's under-16 social media ban for applying to only a small number of apps and not being implemented at the operating-system level.
“Yeah, I think there are a lot of challenges with the way that the ban was implemented. As you mentioned, it only applies to a small number of apps.”
Undated
Spiegel says a few independent studies, which Snap did not fund, found Snapchat associated with positive wellbeing, unlike TikTok or Instagram.
“There are a small number of independent studies, you know, that we have not funded or otherwise been involved with that have tried to understand actually the impacts of different apps”
Undated
Spiegel says he long opposed Snapchat streaks, but changed his mind after hearing from users who used them to stay in touch with friends.
“I did not like the idea of streaks, did not want to do it. I actually fought very hard to kill streaks over the years. We've always been anti-metric at Snap.”
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