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Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

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Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#131

Post by timthelion »

timthelion wrote: post #83
dpandya wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of other models could potentially work for Snapchat other than advertising? I don't see any candidates from the list of other companies that serve young consumers.

I would create an extension to the snap ecosystem, which would be called "snap graffiti". Snap graffiti would allow you to attach a geographic location to a picture. These pictures could be anything, and anyone could see the pictures by being near the location. They would only hang on to the location for a certain amount of time. This in and of itself is not a business plan. But I would then allow these pictures to b…

For an idea what kind of income you're looking at from such a business. Imagine 4 million of their nearly 200 million users, do a $5 task every day. After credit card fees of 25.05 cents per transaction [1] that would leave 24.95 cents to snapchat for every transaction. That would be around a million dollars a day in income. Not terrible. And on valentines day, they could allow users to exchange a $5 task for a $10 coupon to Olive garden. Olive garden would, presumably give them coupons like that for free. If a million users chose that exchange, that would be an additional $4.5 million in income.

[1] https://bandcamp.com/help/selling#fee

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#133

Post by username223 »

niftich wrote: post #90
dpandya wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of other models could potentially work for Snapchat other than advertising? I don't see any candidates from the list of other companies that serve young consumers.

At a not-even-breaking-new-ground level: 1. they could meld the treasure-hunt aspect of Pokemon Go with sponsored hyperlocal recommendations. ARGs (alternate reality games) are popular with Snapchat's core demographic, and if Snap could pitch itself as a platform for ARGs, their advertising woes would disappear. 2. microtransactions familiar from Asian messaging apps: cosmetic stuff like stickers, emoji packs, backgr…

> 1. ...sponsored hyperlocal recommendations.

> 5. ...sponsored recommendations,...

i.e. ads and ads. One of the most depressing aspects of the current tech bubble is how most "entrepreneurs" are not making new things, but finding new ways for others to advertise existing things. If they win the lottery and become billionaires, they start building rockets.

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#134

Post by username223 »

QML wrote: post #116
anindha wrote: post #95

It took Facebook and Google a while to nail their advertising strategies. FB shares dropped down from an IPO price of $38 to less than $20 at one point. Its a very competitive climate and Snapchat needs to keep innovating, but I wouldn't write Snapchat off too early.

I would say Snapchat is more similar to Twitter than it is to Google or to Facebook. Question is, what is there to incentivize a user to stay on the platform for a couple extra of minutes? I personally have no clue why Snapchat the company is so large — does it really need that many engineers or marketers to maintain an app that is essentially a messenger? The failed Spectacles experiment just seems to scream that th…

> The failed Spectacles experiment just seems to scream that this is a company with a lot of money and no clue what to do with it.

Spectacles look exactly like Google Glass to me, though with a bit less creepy human thumb marketing... http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5179166eeab8ead0440...

All of the current surveillance capitalism companies seem to be flailing when it comes to doing anything beyond selling ads.

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#135

Post by maaaats »

mrtksn wrote: post #20
hi5eyes wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except snapchat has been effectively locking out and leading on android users. they're making a whole new app just to get some android users back because instagram is absolutely murdering them

what's wrong with the current android app?

Quality of the pictures. It basically takes a screenshot of the camera preview, instead of actually taking a picture. Also often bugs, laggy interface etc., which is bad when you have one attempt to view a picture or message..

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#136

Post by retailbuyout »

wpietri wrote: post #76
noncoml wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how to sell ads Why are we so obsessed with the ads model. Why not start charging? This is not a web app, where you have to take out your wallet and enter your CC info; all it takes is the scan of your fingerprint. I am sure people wouldn't mind paying a certain amount per year to keep using the app without creepy apps. Sure, the revenue will be capped by the amount per year a user is willing to pay, but maybe the…

> Why are we so obsessed with the ads model. Why not start charging? Short answer: Metcalfe's law. "Metcalfe's law states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n2)." [1] Social networks are valuable to the extent that the people you want to talk to are on it. Charging raises a huge barrier to entry, making it very hard to create a…

Nobody is preventing them from offering either ads OR a subscription service.

Hey if they discover it too late, that’s on them!

At their size, there are few changes that will help user growth without improving content.... goood luck with that.

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#137

Post by retailbuyout »

askafriend wrote: post #66
ptero wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think it is shut, but new entrants must offer something significantly better (or new and useful) than what is available from big 3. I am not sure what exactly Snaps value was beyond some funny face transforms. If nothing, it is not surprising if it fails once the novelty wears off.

I think Nextdoor has a real opportunity here in offering something very differentiated and useful (to varying degrees, depending on neighborhood).

Sure. But it’s useful today. Are they going to continue the unicorn startup charade and ruin the product in the progress, like facebook? Or snapchat? Or even twitter! We’d be distinctly better off as humans without any of them.

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#138

Post by mful »

username223 wrote: post #133
niftich wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a not-even-breaking-new-ground level: 1. they could meld the treasure-hunt aspect of Pokemon Go with sponsored hyperlocal recommendations. ARGs (alternate reality games) are popular with Snapchat's core demographic, and if Snap could pitch itself as a platform for ARGs, their advertising woes would disappear. 2. microtransactions familiar from Asian messaging apps: cosmetic stuff like stickers, emoji packs, backgr…

> 1. ...sponsored hyperlocal recommendations. > 5. ...sponsored recommendations,... i.e. ads and ads. One of the most depressing aspects of the current tech bubble is how most "entrepreneurs" are not making new things, but finding new ways for others to advertise existing things. If they win the lottery and become billionaires, they start building rockets.

> most "entrepreneurs" are not making new things, but finding new ways for others to advertise existing things

What a bizarrely reductionist lens through which to view Snapchat and I guess consumer apps in general — Snapchat is not it's business model (or lack thereof).

Snapchat clearly made a "new thing". It's just looking to an existing business model to monetize that new thing.

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#139

Post by username223 »

mful wrote: post #138
username223 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. ...sponsored hyperlocal recommendations. > 5. ...sponsored recommendations,... i.e. ads and ads. One of the most depressing aspects of the current tech bubble is how most "entrepreneurs" are not making new things, but finding new ways for others to advertise existing things. If they win the lottery and become billionaires, they start building rockets.

> most "entrepreneurs" are not making new things, but finding new ways for others to advertise existing things What a bizarrely reductionist lens through which to view Snapchat and I guess consumer apps in general — Snapchat is not it's business model (or lack thereof). Snapchat clearly made a "new thing". It's just looking to an existing business model to monetize that new thing.

Fair enough -- my view may be too reductionist. Still, it would be refreshing to see something based on a business model other than "surveil and/or capture attention, then sell ads."

Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum

#140

Post by luckydata »

mful wrote: post #138
username223 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. ...sponsored hyperlocal recommendations. > 5. ...sponsored recommendations,... i.e. ads and ads. One of the most depressing aspects of the current tech bubble is how most "entrepreneurs" are not making new things, but finding new ways for others to advertise existing things. If they win the lottery and become billionaires, they start building rockets.

> most "entrepreneurs" are not making new things, but finding new ways for others to advertise existing things What a bizarrely reductionist lens through which to view Snapchat and I guess consumer apps in general — Snapchat is not it's business model (or lack thereof). Snapchat clearly made a "new thing". It's just looking to an existing business model to monetize that new thing.

It's not reductionist, it's honest.

I don't see what Snapchat has done that's new. Disappearing messages? When I was a teenager we used to call them "gossip" or even just phone calls.

If the tech industry spent the amount of energy used to glorify petty crap on something more useful we would have been defeated poverty and all diseases a few weeks ago.

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