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The interesting flipside to the copycat issue is that Snapchat intentionally did not copy Instagram. And that was probably a mistake. Spiegel was explicitly ag
by abalone 9y ago
The interesting flipside to the copycat issue is that Snapchat intentionally did not copy Instagram. And that was probably a mistake.
Spiegel was explicitly against the concept of "accumulative" profiles.[1] The accumulative feature they rolled out last year was Memories, a private gallery that only the user could see and show to people in person. And he was explicitly against making it easy to add tons of friends on Snapchat. He wanted it to be about your "seven most important people."[2]
Well, turns out people do in fact like their Instagram accumulative profiles to store and share highlights with their followers. And it turns out people like getting engagement and adulation from a broader network of followers.
So, as much as I dislike the crass copying that Instagram/Weil did and his attempt to pass it off as just a "format" -- that's bullshit, they copied vast aspects of Snapchat stories and messaging.. calling it a "format" is naked intellectual dishonesty. I noticed Weil back in the Twitter days and this intellectual dishonesty makes me respect him less.
But Snapchat also did not make the right strategic product decisions here. Spiegel, to his credit, went with a bold vision and strategic analysis about what people want. Turns out it was just wrong with respect to how people want to engage with and present their experiences to a broader set of friends.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykGXIQAHLnA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykGXIQAHLnA
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/technology/snapchat-ipo-video.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/technology/snapchat-ipo-v...
- ouid 9y agoI sometimes use snapchat, I never use instagram. There's nothing wrong with occupying a niche.
- jdavis703 9y agoExcept for when you go public and that "niche" isn't big enough to drive the returns public investors want. There seems to be many social media companies that should take the non-profit and open source route that Mozilla took. Twitter feels like a prime candidate, they provide an extraordinary useful service that might be impossible to monetize without losing some of the utiliy.
- fullshark 9y agoHere is the thing. It doesn't matter. Snap shares have no voting rights, he can completely ignore wall street except for how the stock price affects talent acquisition/retention. Going non profit would have an even worse effect on talent acquisition / retention so that argument is moot. I think Snap is in deep trouble but I have no problem with how they handled their IPO. They got a huge influx of cash and had to give up basically nothing for it. That cash is why they have a shot the next 4 years. The market dynamics were never in their favor but they really did make the most of it.
- lnanek2 9y agoI use both here and have some friends using both. Different purposes, though. We post an occasional staged "trophy" pic on Instagram and get polite, complementary comments and likes and follows from places like restaurants we visited. It's not intimate or close at all, it's more like bragging. Snapchat is very different, however. Every day has dozens of conversations with people or groups full of silliness and poking fun. It's like being with your friends in person. I would never post a Snap of myself dancing with a hotdog, or a love portrait with one on my House of Curry shots on Instagram, or have a competition with someone posting our grocery receipts trying for a certain number, or send a cute good night sticker, but it's all normal in Snapchat. If it gets a laugh and some happy communication out of your friends it feels worth it in a way Instagram doesn't. Disclaimer: I work for Snap, but the views and opinions offered here do not necessarily represent those of any past, current, or future institution and/or employer :)
- parthdesai 9y agoYup, i'm 24 and my experience is exactly the same. All the jokes or whatever embarrassing pictures or politically incorrect jokes my group of friends have are on snapchat or group chat in messenger. Instagram is mainly for decent pictures.
- abalone 9y agoUnless you want to IPO and get huge market share. Niches are fine but when you raise major VC and go public, generally speaking they are not.