Putting the Chat into Snapchat
blog.snapchat.com
blog.snapchat.com
A) Don't feel like you're getting roped into a long conversation (you have to hold down on the screen, so of course it will be short!)
B) Doesn't feel like you are bothering people by calling them without knowing if they are free to videochat (they are clearly using snapchat at that moment so they're probably not too busy)
C) No need to have something specific to talk about; can just say hi quickly and see what your friends are up to.
D) As a bonus, if you are messaging with someone in the text interface and get to a point in the conversation where you need to communicate something complex, just use the video chat feature for 20 secs. and then go back to the more async g-chat style text messaging.
"Every program attempts to expand until it implements user-to-user messaging. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones that can."
"Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can."
Which itself may have been derived from an earlier Usenet quote about MIT [1]
"Every program in development at MIT expands until it can read mail."
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski#Zawinski.27s_law...
Just on my front page, 5/20 apps can send direct messages.
I'd edit if I could, but I'm already past the edit window. Alas.
But VCs aren't so keen on quirky little apps... they want an app that everybody uses all the time. This release is an attempt to take Snapchat more into the mainstream messaging market, even if that means losing its original appeal.
VCs would rather pursue a small chance of being number 1 in a major category to a big chance of being a popular niche player.
I don't think "RSI" by swiping on a screen is your most pressing health concern.
My own want for the update was to focus more on allowing us to express ourselves: give us easier and better tools to enable us to make messages more fun for each other. The feature could have been allowing users to record drawing strokes over a video or picture (sort of how Draw Something images presented themselves to the guesser) to give us another dimension to play with, time.
Instead the app just moved toward the mainstream app features, which are all mostly the same.
It also seems like a full on attack against Facebook messenger.
Hmm, what does this mean? I really don't understand, sorry! Sounds interesting though.
This is starting to move away from the original value prop of Snapchat. If you can save chat bits, what's the difference in using any messaging service. Also, who usually is taking selfies or is using text message to talk to someone when they want to video chat? During most hours when you're on the go, you send asynchronous media since it's easier to create and digest that content from both parties. This feature won't add to the success that they've seen from their core product, just cause a nice little bump in traffic - not a game changer.
It may not add to their original value prop, but it is a value add to the way people are actually using the product.
To what extent do you think this is feature creep?
I think these are some pretty awesome new features. I just got the update via Android, but my friends don't seem to have it yet. I'm excited to try it out, but I don't think I'll ever get completely away from Hangouts, since I use Drive/Gmail to run my startup.
Of course current users might say "great, another feature i want!", but, wont this just muddy their market position?
They could drop $20 billion on Snapchat tomorrow morning and there's nobody that can stop Zuckerberg from doing it if he thinks it makes sense.
- A lifestyle programmer.
It's in some ways nice to have a fun little app reject a huge corporate takeover and just keep developing in its own direction without any kind of cloud hanging over it.
With WhatsApp picking up speed in my close friend circle, Facebook messenger being used for everyone else, and the occasional Google hangouts messages when I feel like being online, I don't think even taking the "ephemeral" approach is going to make a difference in persuading me to start picking Snapchat over competing platforms. Snapchat is fun because as other users mentioned, I get to send bullshit one-off joke snaps to my friends. I don't want to maintain a conversation of any sort through another app. However, knowing the conversation is immediately cleared further dissuades me. The point of this feature is that it's good for non-committal "conversations" and very easy to engage/disengage. But I already have WhatsApp for that, and I have group conversations there, and my messages aren't deleted.
I use Snapchat for both very close friends and acquaintances too, I can send both inside jokes or just a simple hello to someone I haven't spoken to in a while. I don't feel an obligation to respond to snapchats and don't feel ignored when someone doesn't respond to mine, how I would via text, or facebook messenger.
I personally never use facebook messenger. I've had it turned off for a couple of years now and only use it on the rare occasion that a friend changed phone numbers (friends moving abroad mostly) and even that is just to get their new number so I can use whatsapp or text messaging. As for whatsapp I strictly use it for large, on going, group messages or friends in other countries. But I guess everyone has their own use-cases.
Also, choosing not to support Windows Phone (and apparantly not even recording WP users' requests) is a really stupid move in my opinion.
Furthermore, I see no reason why Snapchat should be preferred over Facebook Messenger. If you want to share a moment with a friend, you might as well share it for more than 10 seconds. Messenger always works reliably for me. Snapchat doesn't. Case closed.
I know I have a fancy red phone nobody uses (I think it's called NEXUS 5 from a company named Goodle or Google, I can't remember).
So, before putting new stuff in the app, please fix it!