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This is weird; the author possibly met with the CEO of Snapchat more than once recently: https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/546018511902867456 https://twi

This is weird; the author possibly met with the CEO of Snapchat more than once recently: https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/546018511902867456 https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/546018511902867456 > Can't wait to visit my friends at @Snapchat again tomorrow :D https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/545326840940740608 https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/545326840940740608 > Loved hanging out with @evanspiegel yesterday, he's one of the nicest and more genuine guys I've met. Thanks for having me @Snapchat! ...influencer? Hope not :(

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- drzaiusapelord 12y ago
  Something I noticed growing up, even when I was a teen, was stuff like "what teens think today" seemed bullshity and something certain adults wanted to hear, which often never reflected my experiences. In this case, the HN-friendly Facebook bashing. Now as a middle-aged adult, its obvious its questionable writing. Its either PR of some kind or a half-assed article by someone with a teenage daughter and a deadline. A proper survey or data about app store habits say a lot more than a questionable testimonial. Yet somehow, this little sub-genre of reporting still exists. Its like there's this constant adult neurosis about what teenagers and college students think, especially if your paycheck stems from the spending habits of that demographic. This neurosis lets us overlook a lot of things, the same way people looking for spiritual answers will sometimes flock to a known conman, cult, or abusive religion. Funny how a lot of us were bright young kids, like you, but have become milquetoast adults falling for the same old tricks. Sounds like you're on the right path though. Don't become us.
  - crazypyro 12y ago
    Sorry I deleted my comment. I felt it might have been perceived as a little harsh or quick to judgement. Funny, I guess the author did get one thing right, most of our generation is quick to delete anything that may be controversial for fear it'll be enshrined on the Internet forever....
  - alexqgb 12y ago
    This. I mean, I can understand obsessing about the teen / YA demographic if that's who you're selling to, but the idea that what they do represents some ground-shaking historical shift, and not just a (fairly well-understood) phase in normal human lives is just ridiculous. For me, one of the most interesting things about this piece was the total bafflement with Twitter. Not that they didn't like it, they just didn't get it. At the same time, concerns about professional life were largely restricted to "Who will be the first to hire me and will my social life be used against me?" In other words, the way that a lot of Twitter users treat the service as a huge and never-ending professional conference (with frequent flurries from actual conferences) is totally lost on people too young to have reached this stage in their working lives. My takeaway from this is not "Kids don't use Twitter, Twitter must be doomed". It's that Twitter is for grownups (mostly), and that it's normal for people to age out of some networks and into others, just like they age into and out of music, cars, clothes, jobs, neighborhoods, and pretty much every other aspect of cultural life.
    - birdsareweird 12y ago
      Teenagers do not understand Twitter because Twitter is high school for adults.
      - alexqgb 12y ago
        Yes, and teenagers still operate under the illusion that "being a real grownup" is a actual thing, and not just the thinnest of veneers.
        javajosh 12y ago
        This may be true at an emotional level, but there is a fairly unambiguous criteria for adulthood, which comes when you are able to sustain your life and perhaps the life of a family.
        rwallace 12y ago
        Then again, by that criterion a 40-year-old who loses his job and can't find another one is suddenly not an adult anymore, which doesn't really seem to match what most people want the term to mean.
jonreem 12y ago
I'm about the same age as the poster and he's captured my age groups' experience of social media, including Snapchat, perfectly. Snapchat really is that big a deal.
- crazypyro 12y ago
  Except these are all just anecdotes. I'm in the same age group and Snapchat use has definitely fallen off considerably on my college campus and some of my high school friends' campuses as well. The only thing that would prove any of this is real data, which seems to be lacking in every claim....
  - ghshephard 12y ago
    Re: "These are all just anecdotes" - yes, he made it very clear in the beginning of his essay: "This article will not use any studies, data, sources, etc. This is because you can easily get that from any other technology news website and analyze from there. I’m here to provide a different view based off of my life in this “highly coveted” age bracket. That being said, I'm not an expert at this by a long shot and I'm sure there will be data that disproves some of the points I make, but this is just what I've noticed."
    - crazypyro 12y ago
      Yeah, except that is basically saying his analysis is worthless, in my honest opinion. Combine this with the fact that he is clearly biased towards Snapchat (just look at his personal Twitter and blog), yet doesn't disclose that fact, and you get a bad article that is taken way more seriously than it should be. Its similar to that fake radar app that claims it detects police radar from your smartphone then at the bottom of the description says "Does not work". edit: (To explain, I don't think the author was malicious or really at fault. I think everyone trying to draw sweeping conclusions about our generation based on this article are ignoring the "Does Not Work" warning, when it comes to the fact that there is zero sources/data behind this....)
      - 12y ago
applecore 12y ago
It's not uncommon for journalists to cultivate relationships with insider sources. In this case, Snapchat has a history of thinking very deeply about the future of social media: for example, one of their earliest and most influential hires is a sociologist and social media theorist.
MarcScott 12y ago
I was teaching a lesson on cryptography to a bunch of twelve year olds this morning, and with reference to https, I asked how many had used Facebook before school - no hands, how about Instagram - no hands, how about Snapchat - half the class put their hands up. It's definitely the most popular network amongst teens in my (UK) school.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "It's definitely the most popular network amongst teens in my (UK) school." I'm not sure I'd put to much weight on that. From my personal use and what I've seen people seem to spend longer periods of time on Facebook. Whereas Snapchat requires seconds at a time. When you're asking who used something before school you have to remember these kids likely got out of bed, didn't have time to shower and ran to the bus :) I'd love it if you had also asked about what they did after school the previous day. Of course my evidence isn't very robust either but I don't think you can draw your conclusion from that survey.
- calvin99 12y ago
  Uh.. Could it be that people under 13 are not allowed on Facebook?
  - philangist 12y ago
    People under 18 also aren't allowed to watch porn, and people under 21 definitely can't drink.
    - admsyn 12y ago
      There's a pretty big difference between grabbing content off some site and establishing a social media presence, surely?
      - kbenson 12y ago
        No? In one case, you click a button and/or check a box to confirm you are of a certain age to see porn, in the other you enter a wrong number into a specific field during account creation. In then end, people desire something (access to content and/or interaction), and all that prevents them from having it is being completely truthful in one spot about a question that really doesn't seem that important.
nashequilibrium 12y ago
This is way more insightful http://www.fastcompany.com/3031259/these-kids-today http://www.fastcompany.com/3031259/these-kids-today
austenallred 12y ago
The account is now deleted (or at least renamed, breaking the links)
nikster 12y ago
Those links no longer work. Tweets deleted?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

drzaiusapelord 12y ago
Something I noticed growing up, even when I was a teen, was stuff like "what teens think today" seemed bullshity and something certain adults wanted to hear, which often never reflected my experiences. In this case, the HN-friendly Facebook bashing. Now as a middle-aged adult, its obvious its questionable writing. Its either PR of some kind or a half-assed article by someone with a teenage daughter and a deadline. A proper survey or data about app store habits say a lot more than a questionable testimonial. Yet somehow, this little sub-genre of reporting still exists. Its like there's this constant adult neurosis about what teenagers and college students think, especially if your paycheck stems from the spending habits of that demographic. This neurosis lets us overlook a lot of things, the same way people looking for spiritual answers will sometimes flock to a known conman, cult, or abusive religion. Funny how a lot of us were bright young kids, like you, but have become milquetoast adults falling for the same old tricks. Sounds like you're on the right path though. Don't become us.
- crazypyro 12y ago
  Sorry I deleted my comment. I felt it might have been perceived as a little harsh or quick to judgement. Funny, I guess the author did get one thing right, most of our generation is quick to delete anything that may be controversial for fear it'll be enshrined on the Internet forever....
- alexqgb 12y ago
  This. I mean, I can understand obsessing about the teen / YA demographic if that's who you're selling to, but the idea that what they do represents some ground-shaking historical shift, and not just a (fairly well-understood) phase in normal human lives is just ridiculous. For me, one of the most interesting things about this piece was the total bafflement with Twitter. Not that they didn't like it, they just didn't get it. At the same time, concerns about professional life were largely restricted to "Who will be the first to hire me and will my social life be used against me?" In other words, the way that a lot of Twitter users treat the service as a huge and never-ending professional conference (with frequent flurries from actual conferences) is totally lost on people too young to have reached this stage in their working lives. My takeaway from this is not "Kids don't use Twitter, Twitter must be doomed". It's that Twitter is for grownups (mostly), and that it's normal for people to age out of some networks and into others, just like they age into and out of music, cars, clothes, jobs, neighborhoods, and pretty much every other aspect of cultural life.
  - birdsareweird 12y ago
    Teenagers do not understand Twitter because Twitter is high school for adults.
    - alexqgb 12y ago
      Yes, and teenagers still operate under the illusion that "being a real grownup" is a actual thing, and not just the thinnest of veneers.
      - javajosh 12y ago
        This may be true at an emotional level, but there is a fairly unambiguous criteria for adulthood, which comes when you are able to sustain your life and perhaps the life of a family.
        rwallace 12y ago
        Then again, by that criterion a 40-year-old who loses his job and can't find another one is suddenly not an adult anymore, which doesn't really seem to match what most people want the term to mean.

jonreem 12y ago

I'm about the same age as the poster and he's captured my age groups' experience of social media, including Snapchat, perfectly. Snapchat really is that big a deal.

crazypyro 12y ago
Except these are all just anecdotes. I'm in the same age group and Snapchat use has definitely fallen off considerably on my college campus and some of my high school friends' campuses as well. The only thing that would prove any of this is real data, which seems to be lacking in every claim....
- ghshephard 12y ago
  Re: "These are all just anecdotes" - yes, he made it very clear in the beginning of his essay: "This article will not use any studies, data, sources, etc. This is because you can easily get that from any other technology news website and analyze from there. I’m here to provide a different view based off of my life in this “highly coveted” age bracket. That being said, I'm not an expert at this by a long shot and I'm sure there will be data that disproves some of the points I make, but this is just what I've noticed."
  - crazypyro 12y ago
    Yeah, except that is basically saying his analysis is worthless, in my honest opinion. Combine this with the fact that he is clearly biased towards Snapchat (just look at his personal Twitter and blog), yet doesn't disclose that fact, and you get a bad article that is taken way more seriously than it should be. Its similar to that fake radar app that claims it detects police radar from your smartphone then at the bottom of the description says "Does not work". edit: (To explain, I don't think the author was malicious or really at fault. I think everyone trying to draw sweeping conclusions about our generation based on this article are ignoring the "Does Not Work" warning, when it comes to the fact that there is zero sources/data behind this....)
    - 12y ago

applecore 12y ago

It's not uncommon for journalists to cultivate relationships with insider sources. In this case, Snapchat has a history of thinking very deeply about the future of social media: for example, one of their earliest and most influential hires is a sociologist and social media theorist.

MarcScott 12y ago

I was teaching a lesson on cryptography to a bunch of twelve year olds this morning, and with reference to https, I asked how many had used Facebook before school - no hands, how about Instagram - no hands, how about Snapchat - half the class put their hands up. It's definitely the most popular network amongst teens in my (UK) school.

k-mcgrady 12y ago
>> "It's definitely the most popular network amongst teens in my (UK) school." I'm not sure I'd put to much weight on that. From my personal use and what I've seen people seem to spend longer periods of time on Facebook. Whereas Snapchat requires seconds at a time. When you're asking who used something before school you have to remember these kids likely got out of bed, didn't have time to shower and ran to the bus :) I'd love it if you had also asked about what they did after school the previous day. Of course my evidence isn't very robust either but I don't think you can draw your conclusion from that survey.
calvin99 12y ago
Uh.. Could it be that people under 13 are not allowed on Facebook?
- philangist 12y ago
  People under 18 also aren't allowed to watch porn, and people under 21 definitely can't drink.
  - admsyn 12y ago
    There's a pretty big difference between grabbing content off some site and establishing a social media presence, surely?
    - kbenson 12y ago
      No? In one case, you click a button and/or check a box to confirm you are of a certain age to see porn, in the other you enter a wrong number into a specific field during account creation. In then end, people desire something (access to content and/or interaction), and all that prevents them from having it is being completely truthful in one spot about a question that really doesn't seem that important.

nashequilibrium 12y ago

This is way more insightful http://www.fastcompany.com/3031259/these-kids-today http://www.fastcompany.com/3031259/these-kids-today

austenallred 12y ago

The account is now deleted (or at least renamed, breaking the links)

nikster 12y ago

Those links no longer work. Tweets deleted?