Anecdata, population size like ... a dozen. I've noticed a lot of my friends, some of whom are "influencers", have tilted towards Instagram Stories and Messages over Snapchat. Snapchat doesn't work or load nearly as smoothly, and it's starting to feel like the bad parts of MTV. Instagram is already the primary social hub, and IG stories feel more human for some reason.
Snapchat lately has started to feel ultra, ultra manufactured and I think it's turning a lot of people off. For example, their "no remotely scandalous content in stories" policy seems deeply at odds for the use of the app. Snap stories used to be "watch me do coke off this hooker, and leave no evidence" - now they're "Buy Fit Tea! Thanks Calvin Klein!" Why would I volunteer to see _more_ ads?
This feels like too little, too late. Stop loading and displaying Vice "Live branded content" before my friends content (the stuff I care about) , stop being prudes (you're a sexting app!), and test your shitty app on something besides an iPhone 7+.
Pretty much the other way around here. I don't know anyone who uses Instagram to directly socialize with friends. Not that many even have it. While snapchat is ubiquitous below a certain age threshold. I've never seen scandalous content, nor expected it. It's always been about sharing the mundane moments of your life without caring about being boring. The performance is indeed a total mess tho.
Facebook is demoing their own iteration of stories ("My Day") here. I've been using it a bit too. But few are it seems.
IDK. I see as lot of negative sentiment as IG ripps-off off SC. Being owned by FB is not a particularly feel-good reason to choose IG over SC either - but most probably don't care about privacy.
Anecdata: My circle of friends use neither and probably/seemingly are just clueless about what these services do.
If you see a change from using one to the other: Can you explain if they're mostly the same thing? What drove the adoption in the first place? For someone vaguely/minimal familiar with FB (no account) and a Twitter handle, how do these services tie into your daily life?
(I'm generally curious. I cannot ask someone around me, I know no one using either service. The blurb/marketing on the respective sites don't help)
IG has copied a ton of Snap features outright, and this is Snap firing back at Facebook. They're essentially the same thing, but Snapchat seems to be dying.
They tie into life because they let people announce things, show what their up to, and occasionally be exhibitionist. It's like Facebook, without all of the political warfare.
Demo info: 25-32, upper middle class friend group that's mixed latino and white.
I don't know about you guys but SnapChats UI is a nightmare.
I tried the group thing and it didn't give me any indication that it was made or sent to the users in the group.
I couldn't even find the group after I made it to send the same people another Snap.
Maybe it's just me but I've always found their UI confusing.
I feel like this is becoming a small scale "war" between facebook and Snapchat. First, Instagram copies some features of Snapchat; now Snapchat copies a feature of Whatsapp. While I do see the usability of the group feature, this is starting to look a bit ridiculous.
There's definitely a cutthroat competition going on between Facebook and Snapchat, but even more generally I think it's that any app which is primarily designed for communication will eventually feel pressure from their users to expand and branch out until it converges on a certain set of fundamental features. Every app claims to be different and to change the way that people communicate, but really, the people themselves and the fundamental urges that drive communication stay the same.
There's a long history of specialized communication apps gradually expanding as time goes on:
- At first, Snapchat was all about disappearing photos sent directly to a single person. Then they added 24 hour long stories which can be seen by multiple people. Then they added one on one text chat. Now they're adding group chat.
- Instagram was originally for small, square resolution photos with an artsy filter. Then they bumped the photo resolution and allowed non-square photos. Then they added videos. Then they added a text DM system. Then they added group chats.
- First Twitter was for short, public, text only messages. Then they added photos and videos. Then they added private messages.
etc, etc... (my ordering on some of those might be wrong, but you get the idea)
It almost seems inevitable that whatever specific thing that differentiates a communication platform will gradually be eroded away until it resembles all the others.
Facebook (and Instagram) and Snapchat have both transformed from their original incarnations, in ways that have improved the companies' valuation, but have not always improved the experience of users. It seems every single social network is trending towards feature parity with each other (...) Some (important) differences remain, but from an observer time-travelling forward from 2012, the social networks of today would appear nearly interchangeable.
And [2]:
(...) I can't help but feel that value is paradoxically lost (for the user) once everyone iterates themselves into equivalence. Network effect advantages become almost irrelevant when everyone maintains an equally split presence. And if value is lost for the user, their platform loyalty will plummet.
Facebook and Snapchat will begin to be perceived as a 'utility' (something that has already happened to Twitter), meaning, we as a society all expect these functions of social networking and messaging to be fulfilled by a provider, but the exact provider is no longer relevant. Pressures to maintain a positive balance sheet will lead to a proliferation of ads.
This will leave room for new upstarts to target a niche they can serve better than the incumbents, and lure engagement away. They will use VC money to fund their effort and offer ad-free, carefully-focused refuges away from the big networks. But the incumbents have so much money, they will all get bought out in the end (...)
I see analogues to the churn of free image hosts -- new one starts up because all the old ones are full of ads; introduces ads a few years later because they can't pay the bills. The cycle continues.
Having groups was the most common use case and is not a copy imho. Even all my non-tech friends have wanted groups since day 1 so that they don't have to manually select same set of people to send snaps to. You want to send some snaps just group A, another to group B and so on. It's a no brainer, unlike Instagram stories.
It's not small-scale at all: millions of users' attention and retention is at stake in the coveted 18-35 market, and younger. Ever since Snapchat turned down Facebook's offer to be bought out (for a cool $3 billion, inexplicably to many at the time), this feud has been on.
Not sure if its just me, but on an updated version of CM shamu Snapchat is unoptimized and buggy, not even allowing me to watch one or two stories before crashing. Anyone else getting this with CM?
It's not CM, the regular Android version is absolutely terrible as well. It's like they do not at all care about the Android users.
The lag is ridiculous, two-digit seconds long freezes are way too common. I'm really contemplating switching entirely to Instagram, which has a proper camera interface and it's incomparably smoother in general.
Yeah, it's really unfortunate. I'm an iPhone user but I'd still rather have a better Android app than (or then) these features. Grainy viewfinder screenshots aren't fun to look at on any device.
Snapchat lately has started to feel ultra, ultra manufactured and I think it's turning a lot of people off. For example, their "no remotely scandalous content in stories" policy seems deeply at odds for the use of the app. Snap stories used to be "watch me do coke off this hooker, and leave no evidence" - now they're "Buy Fit Tea! Thanks Calvin Klein!" Why would I volunteer to see _more_ ads?
This feels like too little, too late. Stop loading and displaying Vice "Live branded content" before my friends content (the stuff I care about) , stop being prudes (you're a sexting app!), and test your shitty app on something besides an iPhone 7+.