
Snapchat adds free phone number verification to its list of SDK perks - imartin2k
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/23/snapchat-adds-free-phone-number-verification-to-its-list-of-sdk-perks/
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saurik
> Login Kit is going to power really creative, unique experiences and that’s
> going to be the value for partners.

This is a truly hilarious---nay... _ridiculous_ \--way of describing "our
login sdk also handles stuff like phone number verification".

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echelon
Can Snapchat survive in a world with TikTok? I'm genuinely curious what folks
thoughts are.

Everyone I know that uses Snapchat has migrated to TikTok, but I personally
have limited insight into these dynamics. From my perspective, even though the
sharing dynamics are different, TikTok seems to capture and hold much greater
attention.

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garrepi
I'd say they can -- especially with the Gen Z group. Snapchat is used to
produce videos, images, and texts for either: all your friends (stories), a
select subset of your friends (private stories), a subset of that subset
(subsequent private stories), specific friend groups, etc.

With TikTok, you're publishing to the world; with Snapchat you're publishing
to your world.

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chrisdalke
well said -- There's a fundamental difference in TikTok, Instagram, Facebook,
etc and Snapchat. Snapchat is heavily focused on private (one person, small
private group) content in contrast with the other networks which mostly focus
on public content.

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notRobot
> Snapchat is heavily focused on private (one person, small private group)

Private secondary Instagram accounts (finstas) for smaller circles and
Instagram's "share only to 'close friends'" features are taking a lot of that
Snapchat market over.

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chrisdalke
I still don't see Instagram used as a replacement for text messaging like
Snapchat is for many people (again, just my experience in the college-age
demographic). Snapchat themselves don't seem to want to be a messaging app
though, probably because the path to ad revenue and real profitability is in
an algorithmic feed.

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unreal6
I really hope that Snapchat can build out this platform. I love their core
services (chatting and stories), and would trust them significantly more as a
sign-in partner compared to Facebook or Google.

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Nextgrid
Why do you trust them more? Is it just because of their relatively small size
compared to the big players?

Personally I wouldn't touch that company even with a barge pole. Their
business model is no different than the big players, except their ads seem to
be even more noxious than those peddled by the big players. Google & Facebook
have a wide range of ads, both good products as well as trash, while Snapchat
seems to be very focused on trashy clickbait with little valuable content.

Their privacy situation is also a major problem and is not GDPR compliant (not
saying the others are, but that still doesn't excuse them with breaking EU
regulations).

They are extremely hostile to third-party developers with significant
obfuscation efforts around their private API. They are very likely to "pull a
Twitter" when it comes to restricting access to their currently open APIs and
leave developers stranded. Twitter also used to be very friendly towards
developers, before abruptly shutting down most of their APIs and rendering
products built on them completely useless (or neutered beyond any significant
value), sometimes destroying entire business built around their platform.

Their lunch is also being eaten by Instagram, which puts them in a risky
position with regards to profitability and increases the likelihood of them
doing something nasty to try turn the ship around at the expense of developers
who committed to the platform.

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parliament32
I'm not a huge Snapchat fanboy, but some of this doesn't make much sense.

>their ads seem to be even more noxious

I don't think I've ever seen an ad in Snapchat. It's all buried in the
Discover page that nobody uses anyway. As opposed to, ahem, Insta which
injects an ad into every story you view.

>They are extremely hostile to third-party developers with significant
obfuscation efforts around their private API.

That's kinda, you know, the _entire point_ of their app. It's all geared
around ensuring the user's privacy -- ensuring snaps are ephemeral, not
stealthily recorded or captured. Of course they're jumping through hoops to
defend their private API.

>a risky position with regards to profitability

Is it?
[https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/us/snap_inc/SEC/sec-s...](https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/us/snap_inc/SEC/sec-
show.aspx?Type=page&FilingId=13887415-236005-251545&CIK=0001564408&Index=12200)

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Nextgrid
> I don't think I've ever seen an ad in Snapchat. It's all buried in the
> Discover page that _nobody uses anyway_ (emphasis mine)

But isn’t that a bit of a problem when it comes to ads where you _want_ people
to see them if you want to get paid? So they’re bound to increase their ad
intrusiveness at some point and with the quality of ads in there I’m not sure
people will put up with it.

> It's all geared around ensuring the user's privacy

Security by obscurity doesn’t really work though, it’s always going to be a
game of cat & mouse and leaks are bound to happen. On the other hand, their
current approach of obfuscation prevents a lot of valid & non-malicious use-
cases like desktop clients, scheduled posts, etc.

> Is it?

Instagram still seems to be crushing them when it comes to active users, plus
Facebook has the ability to run it at a loss for an insane amount of time if
they wanted to, letting the competition (such as Snap) starve to death.

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Misdicorl
> Security by obscurity doesn’t really work though

Obscurity is a completely cromulent, and actually decently effective (as
_clearly_ evidenced by Snap), stage to a defense in depth architecture.

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azinman2
Unless you’re building a social app for the connected youth, I can’t imagine a
more negative signal for a mobile app than to be associated with Snapchat.
Even Facebook can be quite dubious, but at least they have users in all
demographics.

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talkinghead
why?

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azinman2
It's not associated with anything serious as a brand.

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driverdan
What I'm seeing here is that if an app has the Snapchat SDK I won't install it
or will delete it. I have no interest in sharing my phone number with
Snapchat.

