This Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013 file photo shows Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The Snapchat fad could finally be over as millions of users keep ditching the app.
Daily users have been falling consistently throughout 2018, and one recent report suggested as many as 40% of staffers planned to leave the ailing firm.
Snapchat launched back in 2011, and quickly became one of the world's most popular social media apps.
Its most beloved feature was the ability to share self-destructing images – making it hugely popular with teens.
But the app entered rough waters this year after a re-design went down like a lead balloon with users.
Super-star Snapchat user Kylie Jenner even paused her usage app over the design blunder (but has since restarted), wiping more than $1.5 billion off the firm's share value.
And the company's user-base has been shrinking ever since.
In the first quarter of 2018, 191million people were using Snapchat every day.
This fell to 188million in the second quarter, and then 186million in the third quarter.
Now Snapchat is expecting the exodus to continue through the end of 2018, which could put the app at risk of dying out altogether.
Dr. Ben Marder, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at University of Edinburgh Business School, said: "A snappy recovery is problematic, as where can it grow?
"Snapchat has already achieved excellent penetration in the US and Europe for the 13-24 year old demographic, going younger would be unethical, going older would be its end.
"Imagine parents saying to their children that they want to snap a picture of their dinner - cue mass exodus."
He continued: "The only real option available to Snapchat is to expand into developing nations. The problem is these nations are predominately Android-based, a platform that is currently not friends with this product.
"Making matters worse, Facebook and Instagram have been quick to copy Snapchat’s unique selling points."
Last year, Snapchat launched its first physical product – a pair of smart glasses that recorded footage.
A sequel version arrived earlier this year too, but there's no evidence that either model has sold in any meaningful numbers.
And in July 2014, Mark Randall, who headed up the Spectacles project, abandoned the company.
These woes aren't going unnoticed by other Snapchat employees either.
Earlier this month, a report by Cheddar leaked details of an internal workforce survey.
It suggested that as many as 40% of Snapchat's 3,000-strong staff didn't plan to stay at the company.
That was an 11% rise from a similar survey conducted by Snapchat in the first quarter of 2018.
Snapchat also culled 120 engineer job back in March, and had previously made cuts to its content and hardware divisions.
And investing in Snapchat is a risky business too.
Although earnings have been up this year, Snapchat has still never made a profit – and lost $325million (£255million) last quarter alone.
Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel even admitted last year that the app "may never be profitable".
This story originally appeared in The Sun.
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