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I have never posted publicly to Venmo and I don’t understand why this would be a feature anyone, anywhere actually wants. Who I give how much money to for what

I have never posted publicly to Venmo and I don’t understand why this would be a feature anyone, anywhere actually wants. Who I give how much money to for what reason isn’t anyone’s business but mine and the IRS’s. Maybe I’m not in tune with the kids these days but the public stream seems to exist only for people to mistakenly post to without realizing everyone can see their transactions.

mediumdeviation 8y ago
It was designed for Venmo to prove to new users that the app has a large network and was trustworthy > Yeah, absolutely, so one of the biggest purposes of the social feed when Venmo first launched was around this concept of social proof. So if you think about a product like Venmo, it’s really only useful to you if people that you want to transact with are also using Venmo. So when Venmo launched, we had two feeds, we had the public feed and the friend feed. And immediately when a new user signed up for Venmo, you could see in the public feed that Venmo was something other people were using. From a Venmo product lead - https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/14/16643192/venmo-stalking-whyd-you-push-that-button-podcast https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/14/16643192/venmo-stalking-...
- wool_gather 8y ago
  Good find, thanks for sharing that. So it's classic case of the business deciding they had a use case that took precedence over their users' interests. I feel pretty confident that they could have come up with a better solution if they had considered the privacy aspect at all. One really simple, basic step might be not exposing the exact datetime when the transaction was made. Not linking both parties to the transaction in one display would be another choice that would still serve the purpose of demonstrating volume.
quater 8y ago
I doubt anyone wants their transactions to be public, even younger people (many of which are knowledgeable about privacy nowadays). I think this is more of an oversight by Venmo and this post is telling them to pick up their act and change the default visibility to private.
- nerdponx 8y ago
  even younger people (many of which are knowledgeable about privacy nowadays) How young are you talking? My peers in their 20s have the same attitude towards Internet privacy as towards factory farming and abusive labor practices at clothing manufacturers: " I know I should care, but it doesn't affect me right now so I will worry about caring later"
bepotts 8y ago
I use Venmo weekly and my group of friends love that feature. It's a sort of "social network" feature. It might not be for everyone, but there's plenty of people that are aware of the feature and aren't bothered by it.
- moate 8y ago
  Earnest question: Why do you love it? What about seeing people transact money do you love? Like I get that this is another place to use cheeky emojis (Steve bought some weed and gave his dealer a tree emoji! Classic Steve!) but just...why?
  - bepotts 8y ago
    I don't love the feature, although I do sometimes look through my friends' transactions. I guess it's similar to sharing a photo on Facebook, or doing a "check in" when you're at a location: it's simply about broadcasting who you were with and what you guys were either doing or bought. Most transactions between parties are simply "drinks", pizza emojis, or "rent" to a roommate. It's about showing who you are, what you do, and who you're with.
    - moate 8y ago
      shrug IDK, it seems like I have tons of ways to do that already if I'm so inclined and have never wanted it as part of my financial transactions. I've never understood the appeal personally, but I also don't understand the appeal of high-heeled shoes or cliff diving.
- pbreit 8y ago
  Are you saying you like seeing just your friends’ payments (understandable) or everyone’s including strangers (the problem)?
  - bepotts 8y ago
    I don't care either way about seeing payments; I'm just saying that plenty of young people (including my group of friends) don't see this is some massive privacy violation. Instead, it's a cool social feature.
pbreit 8y ago
Except that it is quite possibly _the_ feature that made Venmo successful where others failed. It provided invaluable cues on what to use it for and that “everyone” was using it.
- ilikehurdles 8y ago
  It's possible. I used venmo because it had a super-duper-simple sign-up, worked with credit cards, had low fees, and my friends were already asking for money that way. All I care about is my own transactions. I go to instagram to see nice pictures sometimes and contact friends and family. I never, ever go to venmo to see how people are spending money.
  - pbreit 8y ago
    You have to think a little more deeply at how some apps break through while the vast majority fail. I can't prove my assertion except to point out the info sharing was a key difference between Venmo and all the rest and I can see how it would contribute to Venmo's success.

mediumdeviation 8y ago

It was designed for Venmo to prove to new users that the app has a large network and was trustworthy > Yeah, absolutely, so one of the biggest purposes of the social feed when Venmo first launched was around this concept of social proof. So if you think about a product like Venmo, it’s really only useful to you if people that you want to transact with are also using Venmo. So when Venmo launched, we had two feeds, we had the public feed and the friend feed. And immediately when a new user signed up for Venmo, you could see in the public feed that Venmo was something other people were using. From a Venmo product lead - https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/14/16643192/venmo-stalking-whyd-you-push-that-button-podcast https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/14/16643192/venmo-stalking-...

wool_gather 8y ago
Good find, thanks for sharing that. So it's classic case of the business deciding they had a use case that took precedence over their users' interests. I feel pretty confident that they could have come up with a better solution if they had considered the privacy aspect at all. One really simple, basic step might be not exposing the exact datetime when the transaction was made. Not linking both parties to the transaction in one display would be another choice that would still serve the purpose of demonstrating volume.

quater 8y ago

I doubt anyone wants their transactions to be public, even younger people (many of which are knowledgeable about privacy nowadays). I think this is more of an oversight by Venmo and this post is telling them to pick up their act and change the default visibility to private.

nerdponx 8y ago
even younger people (many of which are knowledgeable about privacy nowadays) How young are you talking? My peers in their 20s have the same attitude towards Internet privacy as towards factory farming and abusive labor practices at clothing manufacturers: " I know I should care, but it doesn't affect me right now so I will worry about caring later"

bepotts 8y ago

I use Venmo weekly and my group of friends love that feature. It's a sort of "social network" feature. It might not be for everyone, but there's plenty of people that are aware of the feature and aren't bothered by it.

moate 8y ago
Earnest question: Why do you love it? What about seeing people transact money do you love? Like I get that this is another place to use cheeky emojis (Steve bought some weed and gave his dealer a tree emoji! Classic Steve!) but just...why?
- bepotts 8y ago
  I don't love the feature, although I do sometimes look through my friends' transactions. I guess it's similar to sharing a photo on Facebook, or doing a "check in" when you're at a location: it's simply about broadcasting who you were with and what you guys were either doing or bought. Most transactions between parties are simply "drinks", pizza emojis, or "rent" to a roommate. It's about showing who you are, what you do, and who you're with.
  - moate 8y ago
    shrug IDK, it seems like I have tons of ways to do that already if I'm so inclined and have never wanted it as part of my financial transactions. I've never understood the appeal personally, but I also don't understand the appeal of high-heeled shoes or cliff diving.
pbreit 8y ago
Are you saying you like seeing just your friends’ payments (understandable) or everyone’s including strangers (the problem)?
- bepotts 8y ago
  I don't care either way about seeing payments; I'm just saying that plenty of young people (including my group of friends) don't see this is some massive privacy violation. Instead, it's a cool social feature.

pbreit 8y ago

Except that it is quite possibly _the_ feature that made Venmo successful where others failed. It provided invaluable cues on what to use it for and that “everyone” was using it.

ilikehurdles 8y ago
It's possible. I used venmo because it had a super-duper-simple sign-up, worked with credit cards, had low fees, and my friends were already asking for money that way. All I care about is my own transactions. I go to instagram to see nice pictures sometimes and contact friends and family. I never, ever go to venmo to see how people are spending money.
- pbreit 8y ago
  You have to think a little more deeply at how some apps break through while the vast majority fail. I can't prove my assertion except to point out the info sharing was a key difference between Venmo and all the rest and I can see how it would contribute to Venmo's success.