3 ms·

I would hazard a guess that the disappearing nature of the images makes it much more natural to share candidly. Most the things I snap are nowhere near worthy o

I would hazard a guess that the disappearing nature of the images makes it much more natural to share candidly. Most the things I snap are nowhere near worthy of being immortalized on Facebook, or even in iMessage for that matter. But a quick snap? Sure, why not? Its second nature to snap a quick pic of whatever I'm doing and send it to the relevant person/people, and it makes for a much more rich experience compared to other platforms. Aside from that, the disappearing nature of chats at all (be it text, image, video) I believe also leads to more engaging conversations. Participants have to be paying attention to one another lest they forget the last response, in stark contract to every other popular messaging platform. The result is that less conversations happen, but when they do they feel more engaging (and addictive... no doubt this is part of the strategy).

coralreef 9y ago
Face filters are also pretty fun and Snapchat was the first to do that.
- hamandcheese 9y ago
  Agreed, but that can also be replicated, whereas most platforms would be very hesitant to switch to disappearing messages by default. I think this is a (if not the) key differentiator. If you couldn't tell, I'm big on snapchat as a messaging platform, not as a social platform.
  - adjkant 9y ago
    > "I'm big on snapchat as a messaging platform, not as a social platform." As a user, I think this is why most people fail to understand it or use it. Even if one has friends on Snapchat, if you go in trying to use it as social media you're going to be confused. It's a personal messaging app that happens to have some small social aspects, a map that I occasionally use so I can see where people are, and publisher content when I'm looking to kill a few minutes here and there. But 90% of my time is spent messaging people with pictures / chats, and groups are amazing.

coralreef 9y ago

Face filters are also pretty fun and Snapchat was the first to do that.

hamandcheese 9y ago
Agreed, but that can also be replicated, whereas most platforms would be very hesitant to switch to disappearing messages by default. I think this is a (if not the) key differentiator. If you couldn't tell, I'm big on snapchat as a messaging platform, not as a social platform.
- adjkant 9y ago
  > "I'm big on snapchat as a messaging platform, not as a social platform." As a user, I think this is why most people fail to understand it or use it. Even if one has friends on Snapchat, if you go in trying to use it as social media you're going to be confused. It's a personal messaging app that happens to have some small social aspects, a map that I occasionally use so I can see where people are, and publisher content when I'm looking to kill a few minutes here and there. But 90% of my time is spent messaging people with pictures / chats, and groups are amazing.