Snap Inc (SNAP.N) is accelerating its global expansion in nations ranging from Mexico to Japan by partnering with wireless carriers and promoting its popular augmented reality capabilities.
The parent company of the Snapchat photo messaging app is banking on the app’s relative safety at a time when social media platforms like Meta’s Facebook (FB.O), Twitter (TWTR.N), YouTube, and TikTok are being scrutinized around the world for harmful content, lax privacy and cybersecurity protections, and even outright bans in some countries.
Snap has largely escaped the attention of governments and regulators around the world, and it has developed a strategy for attracting users in new markets that emphasizes the fun of its AR (augmented reality) lenses, which can overlay computerized images on top of the physical world, and ephemeral messaging between close friends.
Snapchat has surpassed a milestone of 100 million monthly users in India since redesigning its Android app in mid-2019, which made it more useable for those outside of the United States and Europe, where Android is more extensively used than iPhones.
Snap’s strategy includes inking deals with telecom carriers and smartphone manufacturers to preinstall Snapchat. The company said it is currently in talks with carriers in Mexico, Brazil, Italy, and Spain to explore deals such as joint marketing or including the app in zero-rating plans, which allow customers to use an app without it counting against mobile data limits, and was a tactic that super-charged Facebook’s early expansion in regions where wireless data was expensive.
Snap is also opening new offices in Tokyo, Milan, and Madrid this year to help support the growth plans, the company said.
The expansion plan includes hosting workshops with high school and college students to promote the app with young users, adding media content in local languages to its Discover feature on Snapchat, which houses original shows from entertainment studios, and rolling out the photo and video AR filters that celebrate local holidays and events.
Along with its focus on AR, Snap has in recent years positioned itself as an app for keeping in touch with a close group, and one where public content is vetted by the company, a distinction from apps like TikTok, where content creators aim to go viral.
That image could help Snap gain easier entry into markets in Asia, where families are watchful of influences on their children, said Shailesh Rao, a former executive at Google and Twitter who worked on international expansion.
“There is a premium on safety, and there is a premium on knowing your privacy is protected,” he said
