
Snapchat Groups - kevando
https://www.snap.com/en-US/news/post/happy-holidays/
======
JBReefer
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+.

~~~
teaneedz
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.

~~~
skinnymuch
Most aren't going to know IG (or Whatsapp) are owned by FB.

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thedangler
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.

~~~
soared
I've read that they have a 'clunkly' ui on purpose. Adults struggle to figure
it out but kids can just click around and figure it out much easier.

~~~
funnyfacts365
Nice excuse for the lame UX/UI... Kids can be as lazy/dumb as any adult trying
to figure out how an app works.

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mrleiter
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.

~~~
Jordrok
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.

~~~
niftich
I also observed this phenomenon when I wrote [1]:

 _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._

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12083820](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12083820)
[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12083903](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12083903)

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jarboot
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?

~~~
grenoire
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.

~~~
PascLeRasc
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.

------
qntty
sidenote: I'm suprised that snapchat owns the domain snap.com but not
snap.chat.

~~~
rhizome
I can see a possible reason in not wanting to associate with Donuts and/or
Demand Media, who run the .chat gTLD (among many others).

