4 ms·

At a base level, I'm not sure why you'd do something to have it disappear. Why would I write anything or record a short video that would self destruct?! It seem

by NDizzle 11y ago

At a base level, I'm not sure why you'd do something to have it disappear. Why would I write anything or record a short video that would self destruct?! It seems like it's for meaningless stuff. If you follow that logic far enough that means the whole thing is meaningless.

sveit 11y ago
If you have a face-to-face conversation with a friend (assuming no eavesdropping devices are around) everything you say "self destructs". You'll feel freer to say certain things knowing that they will only persist in your friend's memory.
Nadya 11y ago
There's a certain beauty behind transient moments. It follows a separate line of thinking than that of people used to keeping digital archives of their lives. The Japanese cherry blossoms are a bittersweet moment during the spring. People go flower-watching (花見) to admire the beauty and it is a happy time. But it is also a sad time, because it is only for a fleeting moment before the time has gone and another year must pass before you can see them bloom. What makes them so special is that they do no last forever. If the cherry blossoms were in bloom year-round, they would not be any less beautiful - but I do not think they would see as much popularity. They would become commonplace and ignored. Not everything needs to live on forever - and some things would "suffer" if they did.
55555 11y ago
Every real interaction you have in your life immediately disappears. Snapchat is like actually talking with somebody.
- NDizzle 11y ago
  Can you tell who has read or seen your posts? I guess I mean, when I talk to someone I know they are there. I don't want to feel pressured to look at the feed every day on the chance of missing something. I feel like the people I talk to, I already talk to. Internet people are internet people - and I'd like them to approach my missives at their own pace. Not have an inspector-gadget like timer associated with the posts.
  - taternuts 11y ago
    You can tell which one of your friends has viewed your posts on your personal timeline or directly
- welly 11y ago
  But why should interaction disappear if it doesn't have to? Snapchat is no more like talking with someone than Facebook Messenger is, with the exception that you get to keep your interaction with Facebook Messenger. While I "get" your point, I think it's a stretch in terms of what Snapchat offers that I can't get elsewhere with a better experience. But then, I'm well over 20 and from the comments on this post, definitely not snapchat's market.
  - lelandbatey 11y ago
    The reason snaps disappear is to enable one of the key effects of Snapchat which is low-stakes social interaction. Users feel they can be more relaxed in their interactions when they cannot be recalled later. To quote the article: There’s no public view count, follower count, likes count, or any other social dick-measuring contest. You can just put whatever you’re doing on Snapchat; if people don’t like it, who gives a fuck, you’ll never know. There’s no expectation of balling out 24/7. Consequently, on Snapchat I’ll post to my daily Story almost twice as much as I’ll post to Twitter and Facebook combined to reach only a fraction of the number of people. The cost of content creation is extremely low, and Snapchat makes it fun to think about what aspects of what I’m doing every day might be cool for other people to see. Many people do feel social pressure to be "cool", to perform to the perceived expectations of the groups they belong too. Given that, many people clamor for "lower stakes" interactions. While the same "lowering of the stakes" could happen at a social level, and I believe that is something that's happening slowly over the long term, a much faster route is to use a tool that enforces lower stakes, such as Snapchat. If you are someone who does not find the appeal in low-stakes interactions, then it's quite understandable that Snapchat may not appeal to you.
  - argonaut 11y ago
    No, Facebook Messenger is like talking to someone with a tape recorder sitting between you.
  - mercer 11y ago
    Compare it to Twitter limiting your communication to 140 characters. Or Instagram limiting your posts to photos (as far as I know; never used it). Or Vine limiting you even more than Instagram. Or Tinder limiting you to swipes (compared to pretty much every other 'dating' app out there). In all cases the limitation is rather arbitrary, and yet one of the primary defining aspects of each product. I don't think it's a stretch at all that the ephemeral nature of Snapchat is its main offering. I kind of wish more of my friends would use Snapchat, because I'm not always happy with the idea that everything I ever said to a friend via Facebook is stored and can be read and searched by them. And by Facebook.
- facepalm 11y ago
  Except that you are not - if I talk with somebody for real, at least I know somebody listened to what I say (OK, or at least pretended to listen). Seems as if I could go through the effort to snap something and it would disappear before anybody sees it. Does it also play on that basic human condition of not wanting to see options go away, so you frantically click through your friend's stories for fear of missing anything? I could imagine how that would get users hooked, but I wouldn't consider it a good thing.
andylei 11y ago
life is meaningless. everything is meaningless.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
engulfme 11y ago
It's not really intended for things you'd want to persist forever. If you'd like to, you can easily save the image or video. The idea is sharing your current experience with others in a way that you cannot really on Facebook or Instagram.
flycaliguy 11y ago
No more fleeting then an unrecorded exchange between two people.
noelsusman 11y ago
It's all about lowering the stakes in social interaction. It's one of the reasons why Twitter became so popular yet people continue to be baffled by it. Facebook has utterly failed on this front IMO. Most people realize that whatever they want to say to their friends is almost always unimportant and ultimately meaningless. This is how real life conversations work 99% of the time. When you post something to Facebook you're saying that whatever you have to say is important enough to put up on everybody's news feed and stay around forever. When you use Snapchat you're saying that whatever you have to say is worth a few seconds of your friends' time and then disappears forever. It also plays against the slow realization by Millennials as they've grown up that everything they do on the Internet is permanent and they need to be careful about it. Snapchat let's you do whatever stupid shit you want as long as you trust the recipients to not save it and share it.
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  Thanks for that explanation, as it makes it much clearer to me why people would use it. I think its a different mindset that says "I want everyone to see this" for what would otherwise be mundane things. I know I never have the urge to broadcast to my friends regular everyday stuff like sitting around or working, but a significant amount of people do. Not saying if that is good or bad, I think it's just different.
superuser2 11y ago
People get sidetracked from actually enjoying their friends' virtual company when also given the role of curating/polishing an online presence. Not worrying about the impression your profile makes is freeing.

by NDizzle 11y ago

sveit 11y ago

If you have a face-to-face conversation with a friend (assuming no eavesdropping devices are around) everything you say "self destructs". You'll feel freer to say certain things knowing that they will only persist in your friend's memory.

Nadya 11y ago

There's a certain beauty behind transient moments. It follows a separate line of thinking than that of people used to keeping digital archives of their lives. The Japanese cherry blossoms are a bittersweet moment during the spring. People go flower-watching (花見) to admire the beauty and it is a happy time. But it is also a sad time, because it is only for a fleeting moment before the time has gone and another year must pass before you can see them bloom. What makes them so special is that they do no last forever. If the cherry blossoms were in bloom year-round, they would not be any less beautiful - but I do not think they would see as much popularity. They would become commonplace and ignored. Not everything needs to live on forever - and some things would "suffer" if they did.

55555 11y ago

Every real interaction you have in your life immediately disappears. Snapchat is like actually talking with somebody.

NDizzle 11y ago
Can you tell who has read or seen your posts? I guess I mean, when I talk to someone I know they are there. I don't want to feel pressured to look at the feed every day on the chance of missing something. I feel like the people I talk to, I already talk to. Internet people are internet people - and I'd like them to approach my missives at their own pace. Not have an inspector-gadget like timer associated with the posts.
- taternuts 11y ago
  You can tell which one of your friends has viewed your posts on your personal timeline or directly
welly 11y ago
But why should interaction disappear if it doesn't have to? Snapchat is no more like talking with someone than Facebook Messenger is, with the exception that you get to keep your interaction with Facebook Messenger. While I "get" your point, I think it's a stretch in terms of what Snapchat offers that I can't get elsewhere with a better experience. But then, I'm well over 20 and from the comments on this post, definitely not snapchat's market.
- lelandbatey 11y ago
  The reason snaps disappear is to enable one of the key effects of Snapchat which is low-stakes social interaction. Users feel they can be more relaxed in their interactions when they cannot be recalled later. To quote the article: There’s no public view count, follower count, likes count, or any other social dick-measuring contest. You can just put whatever you’re doing on Snapchat; if people don’t like it, who gives a fuck, you’ll never know. There’s no expectation of balling out 24/7. Consequently, on Snapchat I’ll post to my daily Story almost twice as much as I’ll post to Twitter and Facebook combined to reach only a fraction of the number of people. The cost of content creation is extremely low, and Snapchat makes it fun to think about what aspects of what I’m doing every day might be cool for other people to see. Many people do feel social pressure to be "cool", to perform to the perceived expectations of the groups they belong too. Given that, many people clamor for "lower stakes" interactions. While the same "lowering of the stakes" could happen at a social level, and I believe that is something that's happening slowly over the long term, a much faster route is to use a tool that enforces lower stakes, such as Snapchat. If you are someone who does not find the appeal in low-stakes interactions, then it's quite understandable that Snapchat may not appeal to you.
- argonaut 11y ago
  No, Facebook Messenger is like talking to someone with a tape recorder sitting between you.
- mercer 11y ago
  Compare it to Twitter limiting your communication to 140 characters. Or Instagram limiting your posts to photos (as far as I know; never used it). Or Vine limiting you even more than Instagram. Or Tinder limiting you to swipes (compared to pretty much every other 'dating' app out there). In all cases the limitation is rather arbitrary, and yet one of the primary defining aspects of each product. I don't think it's a stretch at all that the ephemeral nature of Snapchat is its main offering. I kind of wish more of my friends would use Snapchat, because I'm not always happy with the idea that everything I ever said to a friend via Facebook is stored and can be read and searched by them. And by Facebook.
facepalm 11y ago
Except that you are not - if I talk with somebody for real, at least I know somebody listened to what I say (OK, or at least pretended to listen). Seems as if I could go through the effort to snap something and it would disappear before anybody sees it. Does it also play on that basic human condition of not wanting to see options go away, so you frantically click through your friend's stories for fear of missing anything? I could imagine how that would get users hooked, but I wouldn't consider it a good thing.

andylei 11y ago

life is meaningless. everything is meaningless.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

engulfme 11y ago

It's not really intended for things you'd want to persist forever. If you'd like to, you can easily save the image or video. The idea is sharing your current experience with others in a way that you cannot really on Facebook or Instagram.

flycaliguy 11y ago

No more fleeting then an unrecorded exchange between two people.

noelsusman 11y ago

It's all about lowering the stakes in social interaction. It's one of the reasons why Twitter became so popular yet people continue to be baffled by it. Facebook has utterly failed on this front IMO. Most people realize that whatever they want to say to their friends is almost always unimportant and ultimately meaningless. This is how real life conversations work 99% of the time. When you post something to Facebook you're saying that whatever you have to say is important enough to put up on everybody's news feed and stay around forever. When you use Snapchat you're saying that whatever you have to say is worth a few seconds of your friends' time and then disappears forever. It also plays against the slow realization by Millennials as they've grown up that everything they do on the Internet is permanent and they need to be careful about it. Snapchat let's you do whatever stupid shit you want as long as you trust the recipients to not save it and share it.

AndrewKemendo 11y ago
Thanks for that explanation, as it makes it much clearer to me why people would use it. I think its a different mindset that says "I want everyone to see this" for what would otherwise be mundane things. I know I never have the urge to broadcast to my friends regular everyday stuff like sitting around or working, but a significant amount of people do. Not saying if that is good or bad, I think it's just different.

superuser2 11y ago

People get sidetracked from actually enjoying their friends' virtual company when also given the role of curating/polishing an online presence. Not worrying about the impression your profile makes is freeing.