In an article I put this, and it works: {snippet title="LoadFirstName"}
I created a custom HTML component, and in the module area, I added this: {snippet title="LoadFirstName"}
Instead of displaying the first name, it displays the code in my snippet. I tried putting source tags around the snippet, but that did not work - like this: {source}{snippet title="LoadFirstName"}{/source}
If I put the source from the snippet directly in into the component, it does work. However, it would be great to have the php code isolated...to a snippet.
You say "custom HTML component", but I assume you mean "custom HTML module".
If the ordering doesn't;t work, switch on the "Prepare Content" option in the module.