I think it's smart. You can break down this feature into two types of users:
- A user that has friends on snapchat. For them, just sign up and snap a picture. You're off to the races. IMO, there's no reason to pick who I want to send it to until I take the picture.
- Another type of user would be someone who does not have any friends using SnapChat. For those people - you don't want to just say, "Sorry, you don't have any people to talk to - but feel free to play around with the camera." That probably won't encourage them to do much more with the app. Instead, you get them to create something first. When it's time to send their creation, they don't have anyone to send it to, but they are way more likely to say, "Hey <other person in the room>, download SnapChat so I can send you this hilarious thing I just made." Both of those people are way more likely to download and use the app - but the chance of them doing so goes way down if they never invest any time and creativity into the app.
Just my two cents, but I think it makes perfect sense.
- A user that has friends on snapchat. For them, just sign up and snap a picture. You're off to the races. IMO, there's no reason to pick who I want to send it to until I take the picture.
- Another type of user would be someone who does not have any friends using SnapChat. For those people - you don't want to just say, "Sorry, you don't have any people to talk to - but feel free to play around with the camera." That probably won't encourage them to do much more with the app. Instead, you get them to create something first. When it's time to send their creation, they don't have anyone to send it to, but they are way more likely to say, "Hey <other person in the room>, download SnapChat so I can send you this hilarious thing I just made." Both of those people are way more likely to download and use the app - but the chance of them doing so goes way down if they never invest any time and creativity into the app.
Just my two cents, but I think it makes perfect sense.