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I think the primary challenge is convincing users that it's secure. Snapchat has a relatively poor reputation in security (whether that's deserved or not), and

I think the primary challenge is convincing users that it's secure. Snapchat has a relatively poor reputation in security (whether that's deserved or not), and everyone I know just uses Venmo. Venmo has Facebook integration, so if you're Facebook friends, it's really easy to send money. It seems like integrating into a platform that's supposed to be ethereal is a weird fit, but who knows -- maybe it'll catch on.

free2rhyme214 12y ago
I disagree. The primary users of Snapchat aren't worried about security.
- eli 12y ago
  Even with their money?
  - free2rhyme214 12y ago
    Most of these users never used Paypal so if one of their friends tells them they can send money over Snapchat they probably won't think two seconds about it.
- serve_yay 12y ago
  They also aren't currently sending each other money. I hate to be a naysayer to what I think is a pretty cool product, but Snapchat's terrible security reputation is well-deserved. But also this isn't very much differentiated from sending money with Gmail, Square, etc.
  - thatmatt 12y ago
    I think the point is that they ARE sending eachother money, just in less efficient ways. Looking at how people use snapchat it isn't as much about ephemeral as it is about speed. It's much easier to send a picture to someone in snapchat as the flow is better, and it doesn't leave a stupid photo on your phone (and on several cloud backups) that you didn;t want to stick around forever (e.g. check out this awesome car, you don't need a copy of that) I thought this move was awesome. In my 17-25 year old life my friends and I were constantly owing eachother money for random things. If someone could pay me back right there for no charge that would have been my dream. We debated building an app for it at one point, just to tally who owes who what. It was a big enough issue I carried an excel doc but not enough to go out and search a standalone app for it. If the function is easily integrated into an app I use for something similar, however, I feel like I may pick it up. Also teenagers aren't using gmail or square, etc. now so if snapchat can take them over before university they have a better chance of winning, imo. I do believe this is a market to be won going forward, at least in that 17-25 demographic (also why bitcoin got me excited, no fees for small transactions is a REQUIREMENT for person to person payments).
    - evilduck 12y ago
      > and it doesn't leave a stupid photo on your phone (and on several cloud backups) that you didn;t want to stick around forever (e.g. check out this awesome car, you don't need a copy of that) You should probably research Snapchat's history and behaviors.
      - who_are_you 12y ago
        the OP's argument sounds more like one of convenience though -- I don't really care if there's a cached copy of my awesome car picture somewhere.. I just don't want to see it in my main photo app.
    - jsprogrammer 12y ago
      How are they able to transact with Visa and Mastercard without fees?
      - barnaby 12y ago
        I assume any "no fees" clause means that they're not taking fees at this time. It doesn't mean "no fees anywhere in the system". So there very likely is a 3% fee to the user, just not from snapchat.
Vraxx 12y ago
Even if the users of snapchat were particularly concerned with the security of this feature, they alleviated that concern in the post by stating that all of the financial security will be handled by Square which is building it's reputation of security in mobile payments.
- hemancuso 12y ago
  I'd like to see a venn diagram of Snapchat users and people who actually know who/what Square is
  - Vraxx 12y ago
    Fair, but even without the information of who/what Square is beforehand, you can look them up. I'd be more likely to trust them than Snapchat simply because they've been around and have multiple payment solutions out already. And even if you can't be motivated to do a few quick searches, you could likely make some assumptions that snapchat didn't pick up some random company off the street to handle their finances.
  - 14113 12y ago
    I'd like to see a venn diagram of Snapchat users, people who actually know who Square are, and people who don't trust snapchat's security. I'm willing to bet that people who wouldn't trust snapchat would also know enough about security to have heard of, and (possibly) trust Square.
pencilo 12y ago
"Relatively poor" is letting them off easy, comically incompetent would be closer to the truth. Hopefully Square doesn't trust data from Snapchat. Lucky for Snapchat their users and potential investors don't care about security in the slightest.
a1a 12y ago
It's deserved. Gotta give it to them though, pretty bold move considering. http://www.wired.com/2014/10/the-snappening-is-not-your-fault/ http://www.wired.com/2014/10/the-snappening-is-not-your-faul... http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/12/27/snapchat-ignored-security-hole-hackers-phone-numbers/ http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/12/27/snapchat-ignored-secu... http://gibsonsec.org/snapchat/index.html http://gibsonsec.org/snapchat/index.html
- softdev12 12y ago
  almost every major internet company has security issues nowadays. In my opinion, they should be judged on what the ultimate consequences to the users ended up being.
juanplusjuan 12y ago
Seems like Venmo is on a spree to win secure payments in the developed world. It has a few horses in the race: http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/dasher-teams-up-with-venmo-to-bring-peer-to-peer-payments-to-its-messaging-app/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/dasher-teams-up-with-venmo-... At least Dasher has a solid team behind it (former director of mobile at Gilt et al). Not sure how I feel about Snapchat given their security record.
- jarek 12y ago
  s/developed world/USA/ Signed, Paym user
jvm 12y ago
Does Venmo actually have a better reputation for security than Square?
freshfey 12y ago
The issue is just, 99% of the people who use Snapchat, probably don't use facebook anymore.

free2rhyme214 12y ago

I disagree. The primary users of Snapchat aren't worried about security.

eli 12y ago
Even with their money?
- free2rhyme214 12y ago
  Most of these users never used Paypal so if one of their friends tells them they can send money over Snapchat they probably won't think two seconds about it.
serve_yay 12y ago
They also aren't currently sending each other money. I hate to be a naysayer to what I think is a pretty cool product, but Snapchat's terrible security reputation is well-deserved. But also this isn't very much differentiated from sending money with Gmail, Square, etc.
- thatmatt 12y ago
  I think the point is that they ARE sending eachother money, just in less efficient ways. Looking at how people use snapchat it isn't as much about ephemeral as it is about speed. It's much easier to send a picture to someone in snapchat as the flow is better, and it doesn't leave a stupid photo on your phone (and on several cloud backups) that you didn;t want to stick around forever (e.g. check out this awesome car, you don't need a copy of that) I thought this move was awesome. In my 17-25 year old life my friends and I were constantly owing eachother money for random things. If someone could pay me back right there for no charge that would have been my dream. We debated building an app for it at one point, just to tally who owes who what. It was a big enough issue I carried an excel doc but not enough to go out and search a standalone app for it. If the function is easily integrated into an app I use for something similar, however, I feel like I may pick it up. Also teenagers aren't using gmail or square, etc. now so if snapchat can take them over before university they have a better chance of winning, imo. I do believe this is a market to be won going forward, at least in that 17-25 demographic (also why bitcoin got me excited, no fees for small transactions is a REQUIREMENT for person to person payments).
  - evilduck 12y ago
    > and it doesn't leave a stupid photo on your phone (and on several cloud backups) that you didn;t want to stick around forever (e.g. check out this awesome car, you don't need a copy of that) You should probably research Snapchat's history and behaviors.
    - who_are_you 12y ago
      the OP's argument sounds more like one of convenience though -- I don't really care if there's a cached copy of my awesome car picture somewhere.. I just don't want to see it in my main photo app.
  - jsprogrammer 12y ago
    How are they able to transact with Visa and Mastercard without fees?
    - barnaby 12y ago
      I assume any "no fees" clause means that they're not taking fees at this time. It doesn't mean "no fees anywhere in the system". So there very likely is a 3% fee to the user, just not from snapchat.

Vraxx 12y ago

Even if the users of snapchat were particularly concerned with the security of this feature, they alleviated that concern in the post by stating that all of the financial security will be handled by Square which is building it's reputation of security in mobile payments.

hemancuso 12y ago
I'd like to see a venn diagram of Snapchat users and people who actually know who/what Square is
- Vraxx 12y ago
  Fair, but even without the information of who/what Square is beforehand, you can look them up. I'd be more likely to trust them than Snapchat simply because they've been around and have multiple payment solutions out already. And even if you can't be motivated to do a few quick searches, you could likely make some assumptions that snapchat didn't pick up some random company off the street to handle their finances.
- 14113 12y ago
  I'd like to see a venn diagram of Snapchat users, people who actually know who Square are, and people who don't trust snapchat's security. I'm willing to bet that people who wouldn't trust snapchat would also know enough about security to have heard of, and (possibly) trust Square.

pencilo 12y ago

"Relatively poor" is letting them off easy, comically incompetent would be closer to the truth. Hopefully Square doesn't trust data from Snapchat. Lucky for Snapchat their users and potential investors don't care about security in the slightest.

a1a 12y ago

It's deserved. Gotta give it to them though, pretty bold move considering. http://www.wired.com/2014/10/the-snappening-is-not-your-fault/ http://www.wired.com/2014/10/the-snappening-is-not-your-faul... http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/12/27/snapchat-ignored-security-hole-hackers-phone-numbers/ http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/12/27/snapchat-ignored-secu... http://gibsonsec.org/snapchat/index.html http://gibsonsec.org/snapchat/index.html

softdev12 12y ago
almost every major internet company has security issues nowadays. In my opinion, they should be judged on what the ultimate consequences to the users ended up being.

juanplusjuan 12y ago

Seems like Venmo is on a spree to win secure payments in the developed world. It has a few horses in the race: http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/dasher-teams-up-with-venmo-to-bring-peer-to-peer-payments-to-its-messaging-app/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/dasher-teams-up-with-venmo-... At least Dasher has a solid team behind it (former director of mobile at Gilt et al). Not sure how I feel about Snapchat given their security record.

jarek 12y ago
s/developed world/USA/ Signed, Paym user

jvm 12y ago

Does Venmo actually have a better reputation for security than Square?

freshfey 12y ago

The issue is just, 99% of the people who use Snapchat, probably don't use facebook anymore.