5 ms·

> They aren't just making picture filters for genetalia. And therein lies a wildly inept understanding of Snapchat that is so common among people outside of it

> They aren't just making picture filters for genetalia. And therein lies a wildly inept understanding of Snapchat that is so common among people outside of its main demographic.

king_magic 10y ago
Is it really wildly inept though? I truly cannot wrap my head around what value Snapchat brings the world, outside of maybe yet another way to ultimately advertise to young people. Just to be clear I'm not saying you're wrong, I just don't get it.
- empath75 10y ago
  To be fair, selling crap to young people is a totally valid business model. I just don't see any evidence that snapchat can do it.
  - JBlue42 10y ago
    Can you ELI5 this for me? I've worked since I was 16, and sure it was pure profit, but I still feel like adults should have a bit more disposable income. It's something I've always wondered about with the movie industry and it obviously seems to be the groupthink across the board about young kids.
    - shalmanese 10y ago
      There's a golden period between the time when your parents are making financial decisions for you and when you make your own financial decisions where your habits are in flux. If an advertiser can reach you during that time and convince you to change behaviors, they've locked in a lifetime pattern. Pretty much everyone, for all but the few things they care about, once they form a habit, will continue on that habit until some event is big enough to jolt them out of it. Once you've decided what kind of cereal you eat and shoes you wear and car you buy, it's exceedingly hard for advertisers to reach you and change your mind. That's why 18-35 is such an important demo for advertisers.
- remarkEon 10y ago
  >outside of maybe yet another way to ultimately advertise to young people. Yes, but this new way requires the target to physically engage with the ad. The sponsored filters allow quite a bit of personalization, which seems to be something young people want more of. Not really a heavy Snapchat user, but I think it's helpful to think of them as an advertising platform instead of a disappearing photo company. I do, however, share your "who cares" gut reaction to all of this.
- adiabatty 10y ago
  "auto-deleted pictures and videos so you can send them to your friends en masse and they don't need to be all that good" (and we show video ads every so often when you're watching loads of others' snaps) I'm a fan.
  - king_magic 10y ago
    But that's really worth $20 some billion dollars?
nailer 10y ago
Most of the people I know inside its main demographic are just using Instagram now.
- nosuchthing 10y ago
  The medium itself facilitates entirely different user activity. Instagram users sparsely update and check their feeds. Snapchat is much more rapid, and users tend to post much more content though out the day.
  - nailer 10y ago
    I mean specifically the Instagram 'stories' feature which is used precisely this way.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
bogomipz 10y ago
>"And therein lies a wildly inept understanding of Snapchat that is so common among people outside of its main demographic." Well isn't that a problem if people outside of its main demographic with "wildly inept understanding" of the company might be the same people you hope to sell shares to? The kids aren't the ones that will be buying the stock.
- rtpg 10y ago
  I think most people who are going to be buying this will be looking at the financial trends. If it makes money.... Though I bet the fact that so many financial types love Twitter could be resulting in Twitter getting more love than it should on the markets (even now), I don't think the inverse happens.
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    But for the IPO nobody knows if it makes money so I think they might want to try understand their investment no?
flukus 10y ago
How much disposable income does their main demographic have?
- Apocryphon 10y ago
  If they're using smartphones, enough to splurge out on $130 for a pair of specs as a Christmas or birthday present- or to beg the parents for one.

> They aren't just making picture filters for genetalia. And therein lies a wildly inept understanding of Snapchat that is so common among people outside of its main demographic.

king_magic 10y ago

Is it really wildly inept though? I truly cannot wrap my head around what value Snapchat brings the world, outside of maybe yet another way to ultimately advertise to young people. Just to be clear I'm not saying you're wrong, I just don't get it.

empath75 10y ago
To be fair, selling crap to young people is a totally valid business model. I just don't see any evidence that snapchat can do it.
- JBlue42 10y ago
  Can you ELI5 this for me? I've worked since I was 16, and sure it was pure profit, but I still feel like adults should have a bit more disposable income. It's something I've always wondered about with the movie industry and it obviously seems to be the groupthink across the board about young kids.
  - shalmanese 10y ago
    There's a golden period between the time when your parents are making financial decisions for you and when you make your own financial decisions where your habits are in flux. If an advertiser can reach you during that time and convince you to change behaviors, they've locked in a lifetime pattern. Pretty much everyone, for all but the few things they care about, once they form a habit, will continue on that habit until some event is big enough to jolt them out of it. Once you've decided what kind of cereal you eat and shoes you wear and car you buy, it's exceedingly hard for advertisers to reach you and change your mind. That's why 18-35 is such an important demo for advertisers.
remarkEon 10y ago
>outside of maybe yet another way to ultimately advertise to young people. Yes, but this new way requires the target to physically engage with the ad. The sponsored filters allow quite a bit of personalization, which seems to be something young people want more of. Not really a heavy Snapchat user, but I think it's helpful to think of them as an advertising platform instead of a disappearing photo company. I do, however, share your "who cares" gut reaction to all of this.
adiabatty 10y ago
"auto-deleted pictures and videos so you can send them to your friends en masse and they don't need to be all that good" (and we show video ads every so often when you're watching loads of others' snaps) I'm a fan.
- king_magic 10y ago
  But that's really worth $20 some billion dollars?

nailer 10y ago

Most of the people I know inside its main demographic are just using Instagram now.

nosuchthing 10y ago
The medium itself facilitates entirely different user activity. Instagram users sparsely update and check their feeds. Snapchat is much more rapid, and users tend to post much more content though out the day.
- nailer 10y ago
  I mean specifically the Instagram 'stories' feature which is used precisely this way.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

bogomipz 10y ago

>"And therein lies a wildly inept understanding of Snapchat that is so common among people outside of its main demographic." Well isn't that a problem if people outside of its main demographic with "wildly inept understanding" of the company might be the same people you hope to sell shares to? The kids aren't the ones that will be buying the stock.

rtpg 10y ago
I think most people who are going to be buying this will be looking at the financial trends. If it makes money.... Though I bet the fact that so many financial types love Twitter could be resulting in Twitter getting more love than it should on the markets (even now), I don't think the inverse happens.
- bogomipz 10y ago
  But for the IPO nobody knows if it makes money so I think they might want to try understand their investment no?

flukus 10y ago

How much disposable income does their main demographic have?

Apocryphon 10y ago
If they're using smartphones, enough to splurge out on $130 for a pair of specs as a Christmas or birthday present- or to beg the parents for one.