
Facebook is cloning Taptalk to compete with Snapchat - ciaranoleary
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4a596166-de3f-11e3-8546-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz324ujNOTD
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alper
Currently my Instagram social stream is being polluted with all kind of people
I don't know or don't want to know thanks to Facebook's social integration. I
shudder to think what would happen if Facebook would connect their social
graph to a direct and intimate photo sharing service.

Ultimately two things are broken:

\- Facebook's idea of what social is does not mesh with how most people see
it. They seem to have huge problems dealing with non-public interactions and
what that would mean for their business.

\- Facebook's product design culture seems to have a hard time breaking out of
the Silicon Valley bubble and adding stuff of relevance to actual people's day
to day existence.

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ciaranoleary
as links to FT can be cumbersome: a screenshot pic.twitter.com/bMjXYzxp5F

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ogtfaber
I'm Onno, one of the founders of Taptalk - happy to answer any questions here!

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applecore
What is Taptalk?

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wellboy
Again, after Poke?
[http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2457866,00.asp](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2457866,00.asp)

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k-mcgrady
I think they only killed Poke a couple of weeks ago too. Although Zuckerberg
did call it a 'joke' quite a while ago.

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davidkatz
Anyone out here that's using TapTalk and can comment on it's quality? Is it
useful/fun? What makes it better than Snapchat?

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ciaranoleary
three things: i) it is much faster, 10x. it's one tap to send a video or
message to someone by just holding their profile pic in a gird ii) it's purely
1-1 so every message is for you, no broadcasting iii) it's very authentic as
there are no retakes, filters, etc

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codeka
i) It's two taps to send someone a video on Snapchat, so I'm not sure how this
could be anywhere near "10x" faster. ii) many would see that as a limitation,
not a feature. iii) Similarly, many would see that as a limitation not a
feature.

But it seems very weird to be comparing this on a feature-by-feature basis
with Snapchat anyway. I would think Snapchat already has the network effects
to essentially capture the market of "ephemeral photos and videos", and what
I'd like to know is, what makes this _different_? If I already had Snapchat
installed on my phone, why would I bother to install this?

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ciaranoleary
i) it is four taps on snapchat, no? just did it again and for me it's 4 vs 1
ii)that is true - i guess if you really want to nail a more personal / 1-1
service you need to have some constraints around broadcasting iii) same - if
you want it to be personal and authentic you need constraints around that. but
good questions, i think if you just try it - it is easiest to experience the
differences

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higherpurpose
Because cloning has worked so well for them in the past few years. How's their
Foursquare competitor doing?

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rrhoover
Big fan of Taptalk and Onno. It's remarkably fast and the one-to-one
emphasizes personal communication.

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ciaranoleary
link to taptalk: www.taptalk.me

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BorisMelnik
ahh thank you. I thought they meant "tapatalk" the popular forum viewing app.

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ciaranoleary
yes that is a frequent mix-up ;)

