Snapchat daily active users

Between 2015 and 2022, gray wolf populations in the Northern Rockies and Snapchat daily active users both grew, correlating at 0.9626 across eight data points. The wildlife biology explanation for why wolves and a photo-sharing app would grow together is nonexistent, but the cultural explanation is that both are things that thrive when you stop trying to eliminate them. Wolves were nearly hunted to extinction; Snapchat was nearly dismissed by tech analysts. Both survived, multiplied, and are now present in numbers that alarm people who preferred the previous arrangement.

Gray wolf populations grew through continued recovery under conservation protections. Snapchat DAUs grew from 75 million to over 375 million through product innovation. Both are growth-from-adversity stories across eight years with no shared mechanism.

Eight data points of two recovering populations—one biological, one digital—will produce a strong correlation. The wolf and the Snap share a growth trajectory and nothing else.