6 ms·

Eyes opening. How I felt old in my 20s just by reading an article :(

by snickmy 11y ago

fluxquanta 11y ago
Snapchat is the first (and likely not the last) mobile app that I (as someone in my late 20's) just "don't get". There have been plenty of apps that I've tried and aren't for me so I've uninstalled them, but I always seem to understand their purpose and what makes them unique and desirable to use for someone who isn't me. Snapchat on the other hand...is a mystery.
- jimminy 11y ago
  I'm in my mid-20's now, and I got it at first, though I didn't use it. Thr point a few years ago was it was a "secure" and "private" place to share with your friends, thanks to the ephemeral nature. But over the last 18 months they've pushed towards a more broad social graph and more public nature and I just don't understand it. It's Instagram with some time-limit's.
skorecky 11y ago
I know so many 20 somethings that use snapchat. Here I am still not getting it. "But you can send a picture in a text message..."
- josephpmay 11y ago
  The whole appeal of Snapchat is that nothing is permanent, so you don't have to really think about what you're sending.
  - TacticalTable 11y ago
    It's almost as if Snapchat is a direct reaction to the permanency of social media. Once schools/parents started teaching kids to be careful online, they moved to a service where it isn't as much of an issue.
    - steveoc64 11y ago
      How does anyone know for sure that all of that traffic (or at least the meta data related to the traffic) is not prepped for data mining on a per-user basis ? There would be obvious commercial advantage in doing this, just for starters. Data mining services like facebook gives you a solid picture of the interests and connections that the target person broadcasts publicaly. This is useful information, and it is exploited by any number of parties ... and people are (hopefully) aware of that. Data mining snapchat gives a deeper picture of a person's interests and connections, as they are broadcast whilst that person believes that this information is entirely private. Aggregating data from both sources (which would be almost trivial), would provide a very detailed view of the target. Much more than the sum of each dataset alone. And it matters not whether the owners of Snapchat are completely and utterly above-board with everything .... there is the question of who owns and operates the network that all this info travels over. Bottom line is that all of that "ephemeral" data that is going through snapchat is no more private than facebook, or youtube, or HAM radio, or telephone calls, or email, or SMS, or pretty much anything electronic. There is no real privacy with this, but its easy to provide the illusion of privacy.
      - Thirdegree 11y ago
        "How does anyone know for sure that all of that traffic (or at least the meta data related to the traffic) is not prepped for data mining on a per-user basis ?" You can't, but that's not really the point. The point is that it's not permanent in a form that other users can access. Sure, maybe Snapchat stores every picture I ever sent. That sucks and should stop. But at least Grandma can't go back and look at some 2 year old picture I took with some buddies.
      - josephpmay 11y ago
        I know that because I know Evan, and he is obsessive about privacy. Of course it could all just be an act, but Occam's razor. Truthfully, I don't really care if my Snapchat data is being mined. I'm not looking for absolute privacy. I'm not sending sensitive or private information. The ephemeral nature of the medium keeps me from worrying if a picture is unflattering or could be construed as in bad taste out of context.
  - ferrari8608 11y ago
    I wouldn't say nothing. There are apps even in the Play Store that allow for Snapchat image saving.

Eyes opening. How I felt old in my 20s just by reading an article :(

by snickmy 11y ago

Eyes opening. How I felt old in my 20s just by reading an article :(

Snapchat is the first (and likely not the last) mobile app that I (as someone in my late 20's) just "don't get". There have been plenty of apps that I've tried and aren't for me so I've uninstalled them, but I always seem to understand their purpose and what makes them unique and desirable to use for someone who isn't me. Snapchat on the other hand...is a mystery.

jimminy 11y ago
I'm in my mid-20's now, and I got it at first, though I didn't use it. Thr point a few years ago was it was a "secure" and "private" place to share with your friends, thanks to the ephemeral nature. But over the last 18 months they've pushed towards a more broad social graph and more public nature and I just don't understand it. It's Instagram with some time-limit's.

skorecky 11y ago

I know so many 20 somethings that use snapchat. Here I am still not getting it. "But you can send a picture in a text message..."

josephpmay 11y ago
The whole appeal of Snapchat is that nothing is permanent, so you don't have to really think about what you're sending.
- TacticalTable 11y ago
  It's almost as if Snapchat is a direct reaction to the permanency of social media. Once schools/parents started teaching kids to be careful online, they moved to a service where it isn't as much of an issue.
  - steveoc64 11y ago
    How does anyone know for sure that all of that traffic (or at least the meta data related to the traffic) is not prepped for data mining on a per-user basis ? There would be obvious commercial advantage in doing this, just for starters. Data mining services like facebook gives you a solid picture of the interests and connections that the target person broadcasts publicaly. This is useful information, and it is exploited by any number of parties ... and people are (hopefully) aware of that. Data mining snapchat gives a deeper picture of a person's interests and connections, as they are broadcast whilst that person believes that this information is entirely private. Aggregating data from both sources (which would be almost trivial), would provide a very detailed view of the target. Much more than the sum of each dataset alone. And it matters not whether the owners of Snapchat are completely and utterly above-board with everything .... there is the question of who owns and operates the network that all this info travels over. Bottom line is that all of that "ephemeral" data that is going through snapchat is no more private than facebook, or youtube, or HAM radio, or telephone calls, or email, or SMS, or pretty much anything electronic. There is no real privacy with this, but its easy to provide the illusion of privacy.
    - Thirdegree 11y ago
      "How does anyone know for sure that all of that traffic (or at least the meta data related to the traffic) is not prepped for data mining on a per-user basis ?" You can't, but that's not really the point. The point is that it's not permanent in a form that other users can access. Sure, maybe Snapchat stores every picture I ever sent. That sucks and should stop. But at least Grandma can't go back and look at some 2 year old picture I took with some buddies.
    - josephpmay 11y ago
      I know that because I know Evan, and he is obsessive about privacy. Of course it could all just be an act, but Occam's razor. Truthfully, I don't really care if my Snapchat data is being mined. I'm not looking for absolute privacy. I'm not sending sensitive or private information. The ephemeral nature of the medium keeps me from worrying if a picture is unflattering or could be construed as in bad taste out of context.
- ferrari8608 11y ago
  I wouldn't say nothing. There are apps even in the Play Store that allow for Snapchat image saving.