Here’s Snapchat’s Latest Move in Its Efforts to Retain Users

Snap’s (SNAP) social media platform, Snapchat, has seen its user growth curbed recently due to intense competition from Instagram. In response, the company has been trying to add features to differentiate its platform.

Snap launched the Snapchat Map feature several years ago, but the feature didn’t help users share details about their locations. Snapchat may now be addressing that issue.

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Snapchat is testing features dubbed “Status” and “Passport,” which will let Snapchatters provide more details about their locations, according to TechCrunch.

According to the report, Snapchat Status will allow users to share their activities and intentions at locations via their Bitmoji avatars. Snapchat will then compile these Statuses in a private diary called Passport, which will help users keep track of where they’ve been in the past.

Snap stock has been on a tear lately, more than doubling in the last three months. Snapchat could soon be testing its own gaming platform, which could also attract a lot of younger users and help it retain its audience.

Snapchat didn’t lose any users in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to the 9 million daily active users it lost in the second and third quarters. While that’s not a great feat, at least Snapchat was able to keep its daily user count stable in the fourth quarter. We’ll be able to better understand Snap’s user growth trend when it announces its first-quarter earnings results on May 1.