6 ms·

Snapchat petition attracts one million signatures

46 points by amcrouch 9y ago

zomg 9y ago
#millennialproblems
toni 9y ago
How can something like this even happen? Don't they have hallway usability testing prior to a release?
- aaronbrethorst 9y ago
  Evan Spiegel is convinced that he's the second coming of Steve Jobs. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-work-at-snapchat-2016-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-work-at-snap...
  - CamperBob2 9y ago
    Someone should tell him that Jobs already hit bottom and came back once. And as Rushdie put it, to be born again, first you have to die.
  - tobyhinloopen 9y ago
    After reading that article, I now hate that guy and I don't even know him
    - jdamon96 9y ago
      Your comment says more about you than it does Spiegel
nukeop 9y ago
People always hate redesigns of popular services, and the truth is that it doesn't matter. A redesign has never encouraged any significant % of users to leave any service. People hated Windows 8, new Youtube looks, new Facebook timelines, Twitter changes, and nobody ever left any of these because of those changes. Another matter is that these petitions can be easily scripted and signed from thousands of IPs in a matter of minutes.
- thriftwy 9y ago
  > People hated Windows 8... and nobody ever left any of these because of those changes How would you "leave" a product that you have already paid money for? They'll just avoid buying stuff like that in the future. Leaving is for services. Windows 8 is an utter disaster. I'm pretty sure that explosive Macbook growth at the time was fueled by this (and Vista). Today, Windows is for miserable people who can't afford anything better. This is understood by consumers. This is also understood by hardware makers. It takes two strikes to ruin product's reputation.
  - Dayshine 9y ago
    >Today, Windows is for miserable people who can't afford anything better As I sit here running Windows on a Macbook...
    - thriftwy 9y ago
      Let's think about it: - You probably run it on Macbook because native Windows laptops are sub-par and bad value for the buck. Reinforces my point. - You probably run it because you have to. Reinforces my point partially. Yes, maybe Win10 is not so awful anymore. Who cares, the damage is done. The trick is not hitting the target once in a blue moon. The trick is hitting it every time, and it's obvious MS can't do that. Between Windows ME, Vista and Win8, can you remember even one comparable failure from Apple? Win8 was so bad, it made Linux desktop look usable by comparison. Even as it was itself neglected as OSS enthusiasts moved to Mac OS en masse.
      - nukeop 9y ago
        >can you remember even one comparable failure from Apple? Apple's products are big ugly failures very often: - Siri is a disappointment from usability point of view and ridiculed on the internet when compared to other digital assistants - Apple Newton - Apple servers, where it turned out that in the server market a shiny case doesn't matter as much as power, efficiency, and cost (bang for your buck) - G4 Cube - Any of their several mouses - Any of their several keyboard - The U2 itunes incident - The "You're holding it wrong" fiasco - The recent hilarious iphone X calculator bugs - iPhone bending
dec0dedab0de 9y ago
I thought it was great, it made it so much easier to stop using snapchat.
mayneack 9y ago
I really like the change. More friends, fewer brands, and the ability to unsubscribe from specific users' stories. I hope people eventually acclimate to it and it sticks around.
- maaarghk 9y ago
  In principle I like that I no longer have to look at all that clickbait shite when I go to look at Stories, that said the UX of the new friends screen is pretty wild. The app is also now almost unusably slow on my Nexus 5X - not THAT old a phone - which probably contributes to peoples' reactions. I feel like this change is probably bad for Snapchat's revenue (in terms of clickthrough to sponsored articles etc) and good for the user, which is a refreshing trend, so I hope that if there is any reaction to this it is to improve UX on the friends screen and performance overall, and not to roll back.
vetm 9y ago
I really appreciate that this clickbait and influencer garbage is now separated from snaps and stories of my contacts. I don't get why this would make the app less usable. Snapchat was never an app with great UX but I think the new update is a great improvement.
- dkersten 9y ago
  Yeah, and Chrissie Teigen‘s followers were never her friends, no matter what marketing BS she wishes to spin. I don’t much like snapchat (before or after), especially when people send textual messages (conversations are frustrating because I keep forgetting what’s being replied to), but have it because a few friends send me cool stuff on it and nowhere else... but this separation is a good thing. Blending commercial garbage with my friends stuff was always dumb.
- rovek 9y ago
  My main dislike is that it now uses an algorithm to populate my "friends" section, hiding arbitrary friends from me. I have no confidence that I can see all my friends' stories because of the exceptionally poor UX. On top of this, Snapchat has decided that people I connect with who don't connect with me are as valueless as random adverts and "influencers". I now have no way of consuming stories from people I find interesting without scrolling endlessly through ads and clickbait. Obviously this is by design but it is some of the most user-hostile UX I have encountered.
- lazulicurio 9y ago
  I like separating the influencer stuff from my contacts, but I dislike how they combined snaps and stories. My main issues: 1) not being able to see which friends have stories without clicking on each of them individually; I know you get notifications about new stories, but if you want to re-watch a story later it's a huge pain. 2) sorting friends "algorithmically" instead of chronologically; the sort isn't stable which makes it harder to track mentally. If they must have a fancy algorithm somewhere, I'd much prefer if they used it for the recommended "send to" list for a standalone snap (the reverse of the behavior present in the new update).
- Dasyntex 9y ago
staticelf 9y ago
When I look at "discover" I basically only see somalian people. Is that just me or wtf is happening?
nsx147 9y ago
This is analogous to Facebook moving from individual walls to a newsfeed. Why did they move to newsfeed? Easily consumable ad units. People WILL get used to it, and advertisers will soon have programmatic access to ads that will show in the Discover section. Whether or not they will add value to the advertisers with this format is the real question. This change is no surprise to me, nor will they change it. Driven by the need for ad revenue [0] [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14983800#14985153 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14983800#14985153
- numerlo 9y ago
  There was no real alternative for facebook. There is one for snapchat and it's called instagram stories. The way I see it, snapchat will lose even more users to instagram while at the same time increasing their per-user revenue. What's left to be seen is whether the increase in per-user revenue will make it up for the lost users.
  - wonder_bread 9y ago
    Snap and Bitmoji are at the top of the charts in the app & play store (even above Instagram for the most part) since the update came out, so I wouldn't be so sure about that.
  - justinhj 9y ago
    I hear this a lot but doesn’t instagram stories have way less to it than snapchat? It’s a completely different app
beckler 9y ago
Sounds like Snapchat is pulling a YikYak.
azinman2 9y ago
> "But I don't think this large Silicon Valley company is going to take notice of a petition." Except it’s based out of LA...
julienfr112 9y ago
"products" are rebelling ? Snapchat will not care, until it impacts their real clients, you know, the announcer..

46 points by amcrouch 9y ago

zomg 9y ago

#millennialproblems

toni 9y ago

How can something like this even happen? Don't they have hallway usability testing prior to a release?

aaronbrethorst 9y ago
Evan Spiegel is convinced that he's the second coming of Steve Jobs. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-work-at-snapchat-2016-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-work-at-snap...
- CamperBob2 9y ago
  Someone should tell him that Jobs already hit bottom and came back once. And as Rushdie put it, to be born again, first you have to die.
- tobyhinloopen 9y ago
  After reading that article, I now hate that guy and I don't even know him
  - jdamon96 9y ago
    Your comment says more about you than it does Spiegel

nukeop 9y ago

People always hate redesigns of popular services, and the truth is that it doesn't matter. A redesign has never encouraged any significant % of users to leave any service. People hated Windows 8, new Youtube looks, new Facebook timelines, Twitter changes, and nobody ever left any of these because of those changes. Another matter is that these petitions can be easily scripted and signed from thousands of IPs in a matter of minutes.

thriftwy 9y ago
> People hated Windows 8... and nobody ever left any of these because of those changes How would you "leave" a product that you have already paid money for? They'll just avoid buying stuff like that in the future. Leaving is for services. Windows 8 is an utter disaster. I'm pretty sure that explosive Macbook growth at the time was fueled by this (and Vista). Today, Windows is for miserable people who can't afford anything better. This is understood by consumers. This is also understood by hardware makers. It takes two strikes to ruin product's reputation.
- Dayshine 9y ago
  >Today, Windows is for miserable people who can't afford anything better As I sit here running Windows on a Macbook...
  - thriftwy 9y ago
    Let's think about it: - You probably run it on Macbook because native Windows laptops are sub-par and bad value for the buck. Reinforces my point. - You probably run it because you have to. Reinforces my point partially. Yes, maybe Win10 is not so awful anymore. Who cares, the damage is done. The trick is not hitting the target once in a blue moon. The trick is hitting it every time, and it's obvious MS can't do that. Between Windows ME, Vista and Win8, can you remember even one comparable failure from Apple? Win8 was so bad, it made Linux desktop look usable by comparison. Even as it was itself neglected as OSS enthusiasts moved to Mac OS en masse.
    - nukeop 9y ago
      >can you remember even one comparable failure from Apple? Apple's products are big ugly failures very often: - Siri is a disappointment from usability point of view and ridiculed on the internet when compared to other digital assistants - Apple Newton - Apple servers, where it turned out that in the server market a shiny case doesn't matter as much as power, efficiency, and cost (bang for your buck) - G4 Cube - Any of their several mouses - Any of their several keyboard - The U2 itunes incident - The "You're holding it wrong" fiasco - The recent hilarious iphone X calculator bugs - iPhone bending

dec0dedab0de 9y ago

I thought it was great, it made it so much easier to stop using snapchat.

mayneack 9y ago

I really like the change. More friends, fewer brands, and the ability to unsubscribe from specific users' stories. I hope people eventually acclimate to it and it sticks around.

maaarghk 9y ago
In principle I like that I no longer have to look at all that clickbait shite when I go to look at Stories, that said the UX of the new friends screen is pretty wild. The app is also now almost unusably slow on my Nexus 5X - not THAT old a phone - which probably contributes to peoples' reactions. I feel like this change is probably bad for Snapchat's revenue (in terms of clickthrough to sponsored articles etc) and good for the user, which is a refreshing trend, so I hope that if there is any reaction to this it is to improve UX on the friends screen and performance overall, and not to roll back.

vetm 9y ago

I really appreciate that this clickbait and influencer garbage is now separated from snaps and stories of my contacts. I don't get why this would make the app less usable. Snapchat was never an app with great UX but I think the new update is a great improvement.

dkersten 9y ago
Yeah, and Chrissie Teigen‘s followers were never her friends, no matter what marketing BS she wishes to spin. I don’t much like snapchat (before or after), especially when people send textual messages (conversations are frustrating because I keep forgetting what’s being replied to), but have it because a few friends send me cool stuff on it and nowhere else... but this separation is a good thing. Blending commercial garbage with my friends stuff was always dumb.
rovek 9y ago
My main dislike is that it now uses an algorithm to populate my "friends" section, hiding arbitrary friends from me. I have no confidence that I can see all my friends' stories because of the exceptionally poor UX. On top of this, Snapchat has decided that people I connect with who don't connect with me are as valueless as random adverts and "influencers". I now have no way of consuming stories from people I find interesting without scrolling endlessly through ads and clickbait. Obviously this is by design but it is some of the most user-hostile UX I have encountered.
lazulicurio 9y ago
I like separating the influencer stuff from my contacts, but I dislike how they combined snaps and stories. My main issues: 1) not being able to see which friends have stories without clicking on each of them individually; I know you get notifications about new stories, but if you want to re-watch a story later it's a huge pain. 2) sorting friends "algorithmically" instead of chronologically; the sort isn't stable which makes it harder to track mentally. If they must have a fancy algorithm somewhere, I'd much prefer if they used it for the recommended "send to" list for a standalone snap (the reverse of the behavior present in the new update).
Dasyntex 9y ago

staticelf 9y ago

When I look at "discover" I basically only see somalian people. Is that just me or wtf is happening?

nsx147 9y ago

This is analogous to Facebook moving from individual walls to a newsfeed. Why did they move to newsfeed? Easily consumable ad units. People WILL get used to it, and advertisers will soon have programmatic access to ads that will show in the Discover section. Whether or not they will add value to the advertisers with this format is the real question. This change is no surprise to me, nor will they change it. Driven by the need for ad revenue [0] [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14983800#14985153 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14983800#14985153

numerlo 9y ago
There was no real alternative for facebook. There is one for snapchat and it's called instagram stories. The way I see it, snapchat will lose even more users to instagram while at the same time increasing their per-user revenue. What's left to be seen is whether the increase in per-user revenue will make it up for the lost users.
- wonder_bread 9y ago
  Snap and Bitmoji are at the top of the charts in the app & play store (even above Instagram for the most part) since the update came out, so I wouldn't be so sure about that.
- justinhj 9y ago
  I hear this a lot but doesn’t instagram stories have way less to it than snapchat? It’s a completely different app

beckler 9y ago

Sounds like Snapchat is pulling a YikYak.

azinman2 9y ago

> "But I don't think this large Silicon Valley company is going to take notice of a petition." Except it’s based out of LA...

julienfr112 9y ago

"products" are rebelling ? Snapchat will not care, until it impacts their real clients, you know, the announcer..