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The whole point of Snapchat is that it's not about sitting down, taking a high quality photo, editing it, etc. It's a messaging app meant for quick replies. You
by nv-vn 9y ago
The whole point of Snapchat is that it's not about sitting down, taking a high quality photo, editing it, etc. It's a messaging app meant for quick replies. You send someone something and they reply back. That's fundamentally different from Instagram's model of user interaction. It's like comparing time spent in iMessage to time spent on YouTube: it doesn't make sense.
- alaskamiller 9y agoNope. Now the point of snapchat is to binge watch videos of other people. Snapchat sells ads the same way the media company does. So their KPI is time spent, like how a broadcast company determines ad rates. Their strategy is to detach the accountability of clicks or performance. You spend six figures with Snap to impress your brands to the same demo (Gen Z) that used to tune in to MTV (Gen X) and Youtube (Gen Y). As such, here Instagram is following suit. Vertical scrolling is just manual scrubbing.
- dx034 9y agoPosting on instagram won't take much longer than on snapchat, most of the time to arrange the picture will be spent in the camera app. When it comes to viewing (which is where ad revenue is generated), both apps have similar customer behaviour.
- nv-vn 9y agoPeople regularly send ~20 snaps in a minute. I highly doubt anyone uses Instagram to post/send something that often.
- k-mcgrady 9y agoYou're looking at the wrong parts of Instagram. Instagram Stories and Direct Messaging (both of those = Snapchat minus discover) have really taken off. I think everyone I know has switched away from Snapchat. The main reason being that they were also already on Instagram and it now does what Snapchat does plus non-ephermeral photo sharing. Why be on both in that case?
- kfriede 9y agoAnecdotal, but this was me. Once I realized that I can find and follow more interesting people on Instagram in comparison to Snapchat, I stopped using Snapchat altogether.
- nv-vn 9y agoThat's the point though. Instagram is fundamentally about following, Snapchat is fundamentally about talking to friends. Both let you escape that bubble obviously, but the two remain distinct. If you were using Snapchat mainly as a way to follow people, it's quite clear why you'd switch to Instagram. If you've been using it to communicate with friends, it's a whole lot harder to switch. Snapchat fills the gap of Facebook Messenger - primarily for talking to friends, but also features stories. I don't see anyone telling people to switch from Messenger to Instagram.
- nv-vn 9y agoEveryone you know at what age? Teenagers continue to use the two products for very distinct uses. Snapchat still has a ton of features (groupchats, geofences, geofilters (+ custom user-made ones), etc.) and is probably the #1 messaging app at most high schools. Instagram stories haven't caught on nearly as much (some people use them, but very differently from Snapchat stories - 1 high quality selfie/arts-y pic that fits the normal Instagram style every day vs. an actual "story" of their day). Asking why someone wouldn't use both is like asking why someone would use both Twitter and Facebook when Facebook can do everything Twitter can.
- llccbb 9y agoI agree that Snapchat and IG are two different use cases. And I find myself annoyed at the constant stream of tech journos pushing the narrative of "there can only be one!". Email and SMS coexist in the same way that Snapchat and IG could coexist. I use each of these apps daily and for different reasons. Snap is probably way overvaluated currently, but that is a separate problem in my mind.
- nv-vn 9y agoYeah, the HN narrative comes from the perspective of people who either don't use the app or have only used it lightly (both of which probably mean they aren't in SNAP's target audience). Showing a venn diagram of features with most of them on Instagram's side might convince a HN-er to use Instagram, but regular users don't seem to care in my experience.