This article is piggy-backing on the original source discussed yesterday here: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16107183" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16107183</a>.<p>Submitters: it'd be good if you'd take a minute to do some due diligence on articles like this before submitting them. The HN guidelines ask for original sources (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html</a>), and this is the opposite.
What it's always been - a messaging app with pictures / videos / fun tools like filters, lenses, bitmojis (honestly my favorite and most useful part of Snapchat) that has stories for when I want to share with everyone. I feel like this is media analysis grasping at straws, just like they did when Facebook made a huge deal out of copying stories and having more users. Fast forward a year, Snapchat is still here and as far as we know just as used by their user base, though growing less than before.
What it always was: something in-between Facebook and Instagram. It's not the giant killer the founders thought it would be or the bust that others expected. Just a multi-billion dollar content (not camera) company with tons of young eyeballs.
I have a feeling that if SnapChat allows sharing Od urls outside of the app (profile, stories etc) it will experience growth.<p>No idea why it isn't that way today.
I just have this feeling a lot of anti-snapchat news or comments are either biased as a function of investing in competing companies, or is a consequence of having their head way too far up the adult, linkedin, world to know what is really going on with the people that use these apps. The fact is that the vast vast vast majority of young people look way down on facebook, and only use it because of network effect hooks (which have proven to be surprisingly robust, but I don't have much faith in long-term), whereas snapchat is totally considered cool and fun to use. This sign should be far more than enough, to anyone who knows the history of these services, to know how all this will turn out long-term.
Snapchat is and always has been a way for me to connect with my drug dealer, and trade nudes with open minded individuals in my social circles.<p>Because of this, I have been utterly fascinated by Snapchat's continued existence, partnerships with major media brands, and being publicly traded. It boggles my mind that the app I use to buy weed and see titty has such a large footprint. It always feels like reality will catch up to Snapchat, and the ecosystem will come crashing down once everyone else realizes the Emperor is not wearing any clothes, and he's using the app to send pictures of his unclothed behind to everyone else.