Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 152 posts

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#11

Post by cocktailpeanuts »

kneel wrote: post #4

Not sure why people keep comparing these apps. Snapchat is a much more person to person app whereas Instagram is a person to world app. Not a surprise that money would go into instagram.

Snapchat started out as person to person app but at some point decided they will become person to world app (via snapchat stories), and it was doing well, to the point where most users use the stories feature more than the 1:1 feature.

Then came Instagram and ate their lunch. Now they can't go back because they have already IPO'd with the ad-driven business model (instead of somehow capitalizing on the ephemeral nature of the medium, which would have been much harder for FB/Instagram to copy).

So yeah, this is why people keep comparing these two.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#12

Post by justicezyx »

princeb wrote: post #9
eksemplar wrote: post #6

I wonder what will happen to a generation obsessed with idols who don't contribute anything to society aside from memes, hot bodies and various rants. But I guess I'm just old and grumpy.

they will create a rapidly evolving and flourishing entertainment industry, of which globally, america has the largest. this in turn boosts growth in related industries fashion, marketing, online retail, and of these the US is probably also the largest in all three.

I am not sure how much you really see what the OP is asking...

The OP is asking, what will happen when a generation of human are indulged in useless idols.

Then you continue to describe an industry out of useless idols and their fans...

Hack, I am not surprised by this type of apparently startlingly myopic vision of human society. It seems everything is just for profit. No matter how stupid the thing is, if there is a chance for profit, then go for it.

In the end, who can answer the simple question: Who create the value to drive the profit?

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#13

Post by barsonme »

jldugger wrote: post #8
eksemplar wrote: post #6

I wonder what will happen to a generation obsessed with idols who don't contribute anything to society aside from memes, hot bodies and various rants. But I guess I'm just old and grumpy.

Are we talking about millenials, or boomers here? Cuz the complaint seems it could lobbied at pretty much anyone.

All of the above, although I think millennials and Gen Z are demonstrably worse when it comes to vanity.

My mother's a 2nd grade teacher and does the usual "what do you want to be when you grow up?" bit each year. The last couple years she's had a very significant number of her students say "YouTube or Instagram star" instead of the usual firefighter/police officer/doctor/soldier/etc. (Also not the most disturbing trend to come from her recent batch(es) of kids.)

I'm really glad our country is at place where being funny on a social media website is enough to make a good living, but I can't help but feel there's something missing—something keeping them grounded.

I get that boomers and Gen Xers are vain—I love to rag on them, and, really, we all are vain to some extent—but millennials and Gen Z seem to be taking it to a different level.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#14

Post by anilshanbhag »

I shared your skepticism of Snapchat (I use Instagram pretty often and browse Facebook multiple times a day - rarely post on it). I recently hopped on the Snapchat bandwagon and here are a couple of things I really liked:

> Less focus on metrics. There is no likes and you only see views if you really want to. This is bad for influencers but I have to give it that it is a good break from Instagram/Facebook where people are conscious of likes.

> Its fun. The filters and emoji are better on Snapchat. The maps feature is cool - I used it to browse snaps by Harvey/Irma victims. The Discover section has crappy publications but there is NYT, Mashable, WSJ, etc. I pay for WSJ but I still like to read news in the Snapchat format.

On the downside, the app is buggy and does crash pretty often for a 1.8k strength company.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#15

Post by NTDF9 »

eksemplar wrote: post #6

I wonder what will happen to a generation obsessed with idols who don't contribute anything to society aside from memes, hot bodies and various rants. But I guess I'm just old and grumpy.

There are a few kids who end up gaining success out of vanity.

But so so so many kids destroy their lives chasing popularity. Looks like more and more kids will learn it the hard way.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#16

Post by mahyarm »

barsonme wrote: post #13
jldugger wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are we talking about millenials, or boomers here? Cuz the complaint seems it could lobbied at pretty much anyone.

All of the above, although I think millennials and Gen Z are demonstrably worse when it comes to vanity. My mother's a 2nd grade teacher and does the usual "what do you want to be when you grow up?" bit each year. The last couple years she's had a very significant number of her students say "YouTube or Instagram star" instead of the usual firefighter/police officer/doctor/soldier/etc. (Also not the most disturbing tr…

Vs. rapper, or sports player? An IG / youtube star is being a lower-middle class celebrity, which is actually a first in many ways.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#17

Post by sjg007 »

justicezyx wrote: post #12
princeb wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they will create a rapidly evolving and flourishing entertainment industry, of which globally, america has the largest. this in turn boosts growth in related industries fashion, marketing, online retail, and of these the US is probably also the largest in all three.

I am not sure how much you really see what the OP is asking... The OP is asking, what will happen when a generation of human are indulged in useless idols. Then you continue to describe an industry out of useless idols and their fans... Hack, I am not surprised by this type of apparently startlingly myopic vision of human society. It seems everything is just for profit. No matter how stupid the thing is, if there is…

The value is the entertainment escape (dopamine rush) that meme or idol generates in your synapses. Typically a YouTube idol has to have done something interesting e.g. Music etc.. so it's a creative space. Cat chez burgers was a big meme factory at one point doing millions.

Buy an ad and your customer might remember it. Create a meme and you live forever.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#18

Post by arkitaip »

barsonme wrote: post #13
jldugger wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are we talking about millenials, or boomers here? Cuz the complaint seems it could lobbied at pretty much anyone.

All of the above, although I think millennials and Gen Z are demonstrably worse when it comes to vanity. My mother's a 2nd grade teacher and does the usual "what do you want to be when you grow up?" bit each year. The last couple years she's had a very significant number of her students say "YouTube or Instagram star" instead of the usual firefighter/police officer/doctor/soldier/etc. (Also not the most disturbing tr…

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."

-- Some Greek Guy, like really long time ago.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#19

Post by eksemplar »

princeb wrote: post #9
eksemplar wrote: post #6

I wonder what will happen to a generation obsessed with idols who don't contribute anything to society aside from memes, hot bodies and various rants. But I guess I'm just old and grumpy.

they will create a rapidly evolving and flourishing entertainment industry, of which globally, america has the largest. this in turn boosts growth in related industries fashion, marketing, online retail, and of these the US is probably also the largest in all three.

Entertainment isn't really an industry though. It produces nothing of real value and relies on being financed by those who do.

There is a reason Bollywood is a more profitable "industry" than Hollywood, and it's not because their product is better. It's because their society actually nets a profit from production that they can then spend on leisure.

If our best and brightest young children become internet celebrities because it made good sense, then there won't be anyone to keep the gears grinding.

Worse than that, on instagram you're still the product being sold even when you're then one being followed.

Re: Snapchat’s Influencers Are Fleeing to Instagram for Money

#20

Post by sjg007 »

vosper wrote: post #3

There's got to be a middle-ground between not going after the money as hard as Facebook, and their customers having no idea whether their spending is achieving anything. They're living in la-la land if they think they can keep the latter up, especially with the bad rap a lot of online advertising has been getting over the last few years. Advertisers need to have some idea of what's going on in the system, and with Sn…

Facebook needs to reorganize their metrics and at least fall in line with census estimates. At least have some plausible deniability.
Post reply on HN